noon
Then said the wise woman : -- `` Below there is the forest which surrounds my house . I am going home . If you pledge to come there to me , I will help you , in a way I could not do now , to be good and lovely . I will wait you there all day , but if you start at once , you may be there long before noon . I shall have your breakfast waiting for you . One thing more : the beasts have not yet all gone home to their holes ; but I give you my word , not one will touch you so long as you keep coming nearer to my house . '' She ceased .