midday
Twice , stranger , the current bore me under , and those on the bank shouted that I was lost ; but I rose again , and in the end I won the farther shore . `` Now those on the bank mocked no more ; they stood still wondering , and I walked on till I came to the foot of the cliff . That cliff is hard to climb , stranger ; when you are strong upon your feet , I will show you the path . Yet I found a way up it , and by midday I came to the forest . Here , on the edge of the forest , I rested awhile , and ate a little food that I had brought with me in the bag , for now I must gather up my strength to meet the ghosts , if ghosts there were . Then I rose and plunged into the forest . The trees were great that grow there , stranger , and their leaves are so thick that in certain places the light is as that of night when the moon is young .