] Then the other, as she awoke and stirred, heard a little feeble,
cracked voice crying, "Take care, or you will spill my eye-water!"
[Footnote: _Nebijegwode_ (eye medicine, M.)] And by her was the
smaller star, whom she had chosen; but he was a weak-looking old fellow,
with little red, twinkling eyes. And as they had chosen so it came unto
them.
But yellow or red, young or old, in a few days they both grew a-weary
of the star country to which they were taken, and wished to return to
the earth. And then that came to pass which made them yearn with
tenfold longing; for their husbands, who were absent all day hunting,
had pointed out to them a large flat stone, which they were on no
account to lift; which they obeyed in this wise, that they did not both
lift the stone, but only the younger, who, as soon as the Stars had
gone to the greenwood, rushed to the slab, and, lifting it up, gazed
greedily down into the hole beneath. And what she saw was wonderful,
for it was the sky itself, and directly under them was the world in
which they had lived, and specially in sight was the home of their
childhood, with all its woods and rivers. And then the elder having
looked, both almost broke their hearts with weeping.
Now the Stars were by no means such evil-minded men as you may have
deemed; for having perceived by magic that their wives had looked
through the hole in the sky, and knowing that they were lying when
they denied it, they gave them leave to go back to earth.
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