Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/118

 he took her and showed her where there was a well of water, and cresses and red berries hanging above the well. Baldwin found fresh grasses near and he began to eat.

Golden Hood found a gourd, and she filled it with water and brought it back to the tree. She watered the tree. She touched its broken branches with her hands, and she brought more and more water to it.

And near the tree Golden Hood and Baldwin stayed. In the mornings they would go to the well, and one would eat the red berries and the other would eat the lush grass. Then Golden Hood would bring water in the gourd, and she would water and tend the tree. The tree became less and less withered; its dead branches fell away, and although it was still leafless it began to have the look of a sound tree.

And often Golden Hood looked at herself in the well. Her dark hair became longer and finer; her lips became redder, and her eyes became more and more shining. So lovely was the