Once upon a time, a strange, wise woman lived in a little hut at the top of a hill. She looked so grim and severe that people were afraid to go near her. It was said she could change people into anything she wished.
One day, two little girls from the foot of the hill were playing together. One was named Golden Hair and the other Blue Eyes. After a while they sat down on the grassy hillside to rest.
“I would like to do something to make everybody happy,” said Blue Eyes.
“So would I,” said Golden Hair. “Let’s ask the woman on the hilltop. She is very wise. Surely she can tell us just what to do.”
“Oh, yes!” said Blue Eyes, and off they started at once.
It was a long, long walk to the top of the hill. Many times the girls stopped to rest beneath the oak trees that shaded their path. They couldn’t find a single flower, so they wove a basket out of oak leaves and filled it with berries as a gift for the wise woman.
Birds were singing in the treetops, and squirrels were frisking along the branches. Golden Hair and Blue Eyes stopped to laugh and chat with them.
Then they walked on and on, up the rocky path. Slowly the sun went down. The birds stopped singing, and the squirrels went to bed. Even the evening wind was resting. How still and cool the hillside was!
Soon the moon and stars came out. The frogs and toads woke up, beetles and fireflies drifted through the dark, and the night music began.
Golden Hair and Blue Eyes were very tired now, but they climbed on and on, until at last they reached the hut where the strange, wise woman lived.
“Look, she’s standing at the gate,” whispered Golden Hair. “How stern she looks!”
The girls clung close together. When they reached the gate, Golden Hair spoke up bravely. “We know you are very wise. We came to ask if you would tell us how to make everyone happy.”
“Please let us stay together,” said timid Blue Eyes.
The wise woman opened the gate for the children, and in the moonlight, she was seen to smile.
Golden Hair and Blue Eyes were never seen at the foot of the hill again. But the next morning, golden-rod and purple asters, tall and waving and beautiful, covered the whole hillside.
Some people say that these two bright flowers, growing side by side, could tell the secret if they chose to, of what became of the two little girls on that moonlit night.
