THE CHILDREN
went from the great ash trees and the bushy white-thorn trees. They went amongst the tall pine trees and the dark spruce trees. They went picking berries and eating them. Little Meg gathered ragweed; she pulled the ragweed into shreds, and she threw the shreds upon the ground.
They were in the Deep Wood. They went on, gathering berries, until they came to an open space. There they saw four great trees, and each tree had a hollow, wide and deep. "Oh, let us sit down in the hollows and eat our berries there—I'm sure the hollows are nice and clean," said Philomena.
So each went into the hollow in a tree. Very surprised were they to find a table and a chair and a bed in each of the hollows. They sat down at the tables and began eating their berries.
And there they were, eating their berries, when a dwarf came to the opening of each hollow. "Ha," said each of them, "who is this that has come into the tree dwarf's hollow house?"
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