Ditte was not afraid, though it must be admitted she occasionally shivered. Every other minute she stopped to listen, and when a dry stick snapped, she started, thrilled with excitement. She was not bored here, her little body was brimming over with the wonder of it; each step brought her fresh experiences full of unknown solemnity. Suddenly it would jump out at her with a frightful: pshaw!--exactly as the fire did when Granny poured paraffin over it--and she would hurry away, as quickly as her small feet would carry her, until she came to an opening in the wood.
On one of these flights she came to a wide river, with trees bending over it. It was like a wide stream of greenness flowing down, and Ditte stood transfixed, in breathless wonder. The green of the river she quickly grasped, for this was the color poured down on all trees--and the river here was the end of the world. Over on the other side the Lord lived; if she looked very hard she could just catch a glimpse of his gray bearded face in a thicket of thorns. But how was all this greenness made?
She ran for some distance along the edge of the river, watching it, until she was stopped by two ladies, so beautiful that she had never seen anything like them before. Though there was no rain, and they were walking under the trees in the shadow, they held parasols, on which the sun gleamed through the green leaves, looking like glowing coins raining down on to their parasols. They kneeled in front of Ditte as if she were a little princess, lifting her bare feet and peeping under the soles, as they questioned her.
Well, her name was Ditte. Ditte Mischief and Ditte Goodgirl--and Ditte child o' Man!
The ladies looked at each other and laughed, and asked her where she lived.
"What Granny?" asked the stupid ladies again.
Ditte stamped her little bare foot on the grass:
"Oh, Granny! that's blind sometimes 'cos she cries so much. Ditte's own Granny."
Then they pretended to be much wiser, and asked her to go home with them for a little while. Ditte gave her little hand trustingly to one of them and trotted along; she did not mind seeing if they lived on the other side of the river--with the Lord. Then it would be angels she had met.