Barbara trudged toward the forest. When she came to the city gate the
watchman stopped her, and held his big lantern in her face, and asked
her who she was and where she was going.
"I am Barbara, and I am going into the forest," said she boldly.
"Into the forest?" cried the watchman, "and in this storm? No, child;
you will perish!"
"But I am going to see the prince," said Barbara. "They will not let
me watch for him in the church, nor in any of their pleasant homes, so
I am going into the forest."
The watchman smiled sadly. He was a kindly man; he thought of his own
little girl at home.
"No, you must not go to the forest," said he, "for you would perish
with the cold."
But Barbara would not stay. She avoided the watchman's grasp and ran
as fast as ever she could through the city gate.
"Come back, come back!" cried the watchman; "you will perish in the
forest!"
But Barbara would not heed his cry. The falling snow did not stay her,
nor did the cutting blast. She thought only of the prince, and she ran
straightway to the forest.
II
"What do you see up there, O pine-tree?" asked a little vine in the
forest. "You lift your head among the clouds to-night, and you tremble
strangely as if you saw wondrous sights."
"I see only the distant hill-tops and the dark clouds," answered the
pine-tree. "And the wind sings of the snow-king to-night; to all my
questionings he says, 'Snow, snow, snow,' till I am wearied with his
refrain."
"But the prince will surely come to-morrow?" inquired the tiny
snowdrop that nestled close to the vine.
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