“She’s getting cross, she’s getting cross, brother Nibby,” said Malkin’s voice. “Do you think we’d better go back?”
“I’m not cross,” said Merrimeg. “Please excuse me. I won’t speak so any more.”
“I believe it’s all right, brother Nibby,” said Malkin’s voice. “Now you’d better tell her about the word. Whatever they say to her, she must use that word, and she mustn’t use any other; tell her that, brother Nibby. She mustn’t say anything else to them, because if she does they’ll take her body away from her too, and we’ll never get our bodies back; tell her that, brother Nibby. And we mustn’t speak at all, because that would spoil everything. And whatever she does, she mustn’t let them take her shoes off. Tell her, brother.”
“Excuse me,” said Merrimeg, very politely, “I heard what you said, so he needn’t tell me, if you please.”
“Now that’s what I call very clever of her,” said Malkin’s voice.
In a few minutes they came to a place where the vines and brambles hung down so low over the path that Merrimeg had to crawl on her hands and knees; and just then Malkin said, in a very low voice:
Right in the middle of the path before them stood a great gray owl, staring at them with his big round eyes. The shoes stopped still, and Merrimeg sat up on her heels. The owl seemed to be staring straight at her. He opened his beak, and a hoarse voice came out of his mouth, sounding as if he had a bad cold, and the voice said:
“Kitten-tails,” said Merrimeg, remembering that she wasn’t on any account to say anything else.
The owl ruffled his feathers and winked one of his eyes, very slowly. He stared at Merrimeg for a moment, then he turned around and walked off down the path before them. The wooden shoes stepped along after him, and Merrimeg followed on her hands and knees.
Old Sappy, if that was his name, led them a long way under the vines and brambles, and stopped at the end of the path before a green wall of leaves, very tall, made of vines matted thick together. At the bottom of this leafy wall was a little opening, and after looking behind him for a moment old Sappy went in, and after him stepped the two pairs of shoes, and last of all in crawled Merrimeg.
When she was inside, she stood up. She was standing on a floor which looked like green marble, very hard and shiny, and as she moved her feet on it her shoes began to pinch her feet painfully. All around her, in a circle, was the high wall of green leaves, and overhead the branches of the trees hung down, making a green roof.
