The dwarf obeyed， and in a few minutes Edmund foundhimself being forced to walk as fast as he could with his hands tied behind him. He kept on slipping in the slush and mud and wet grass， and every time he slipped， the dwarf gave him a curse and sometimes a flick with the whip. The Witch walked behind the dwarf and kept on saying， “Faster！ Faster！”
Every moment the patches of green grew bigger and the patches of snow grew smaller. Every moment more and more of the trees shook off their robes of snow. Soon， wherever you looked， instead of white shapes you saw the dark green of firs or the black prickly branches of bare oaks and beeches and elms. Then the mist turned from white to gold and presently cleared away altogether. Shafts of delicious sunlight struck down on to the forest floor and overhead you could see a blue sky between the tree tops.
Soon there were more wonderful things happening. Coming suddenly round a corner into a glade of silver birch trees Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers.celandines. The noise of water grew louder. Presently they actually crossed a stream. Beyond it they found snowdrops growing.
