Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/65

 she heard some one say, "What are you looking at, little girl?"

She saw who spoke to her. There was a hag within the hollow of the tree; she was leaning on a staff, and with her gleaming eyes she was looking out on the wood. "And what are you looking at, little girl?" said the Hag of the Tree to Mary.

"I am looking at the whiteness of the snow and the redness of the berries and the blackness of the raven, please, ma'am," said Mary.

"And did you ever see anything that drew your eyes more than this blackness and whiteness and redness? Tell me that!" said the hag.

"No, ma'am," said Mary, and she tried to draw away, for she was fearful of the strange hag that stayed there all alone in the Deep Wood. The hag's eyes held her, and she could not go away.

"Did you ever see any one who had the whiteness of the snow and the redness of the berries and the blackness of the raven? Tell me that!"