` The ball is moving in my hand , ' and looking round she beheld a cloud flying towards them , large and blacker than the first , and striped with red . ` Those are our pursuers , ' cried she , and turning the ball three times in her hand she spoke to it thus : ` Listen to me , my ball , my ball . Be quick and change us both . Me into a wild rose bush , And him into a rose on my stem . ' And in the twinkling of an eye it was done . Only just in time too , for the goblins were close at hand , and looked round eagerly for the stream and the fish . But neither stream nor fish was to be seen ; nothing but a rose bush . So they went sorrowing home , and when they were out of sight the rose bush and rose returned to their proper shapes and walked all the faster for the little rest they had had . ` Well , did you find them ? ' asked the old man when his goblins came back . ` No , ' replied the leader of the goblins , ` we found neither brook nor fish in the desert . ' ` And did you find nothing else at all ? ' ` Oh , nothing but a rose tree on the edge of a wood , with a rose hanging on it . ' ` Idiots ! ' cried he . ` Why , that was they . ' And he threw open the door of the seventh stall , where his mightiest goblins were locked in . ` Bring them to me , however you find them , dead or alive ! ' thundered he , ` for I will have them ! Tear up the rose tree and the roots too , and do n't leave anything behind , however strange it may be ! '
The fugitives were resting XXXXX the shade of a wood , and were refreshing themselves with food and drink .
So at for in into of on to towards with