She
burst into a wailing cry, and again threw herself down on the
stones.
CHAPTER 21
The Escape
As the princess lay and sobbed she kept feeling the thread
mechanically, following it with her finger many times up to the
stones in which it disappeared. By and by she began, still
mechanically, to poke her finger in after it between the stones as
far as she could. All at once it came into her head that she might
remove some of the stones and see where the thread went next.
Almost laughing at herself for never having thought of this before,
she jumped to her feet. Her fear vanished; once more she was
certain her grandmother's thread could not have brought her there
just to leave her there; and she began to throw away the stones
from the top as fast as she could, sometimes two or three at a
handful, sometimes taking both hands to lift one. After clearing
them away a little, she found that the thread turned and went
straight downwards. Hence, as the heap sloped a good deal, growing
of course wider towards its base, she had to throw away a multitude
of stones to follow the thread.
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