“All phenomena shall transpire in their own time,” Great Bear told her. Looking out into the wilderness through the mouth of the cave, she listened to Great Bear’s low rumbling voice and no longer felt anxious. “What does that mean?” Lally asked, folding her hair into a pillow beneath her head. “It means it is for neither you nor I to decide when a nutshell will crack.” Allerleirauh understood now. What good would three gowns have done her in the woods? What good would they have done her when she put the nut under the bedstead with councillor Offal? If anything, they would have been cumbersome and added to Lally’s already-weighty burden. Looking back, she realized how fortunate it was that mother’s walnut cracked in its own time. But back then, in the cave with Great Bear, she was anxious for the shell to open up and reveal its contents. “But what of my will?” Lally protested. “If I put my best efforts into some endeavour, should it not succeed?”
