Anne and Diana's vow of eternal friendship

On the afternoon of their first meeting, in the Barry garden at Orchard Slope, Anne Shirley and Diana Barry stood among the tiger lilies and sealed their friendship with a solemn, self-invented ritual. Anne, trembling with hope and fear, had asked Diana if she could like her enough to be her bosom friend. Diana, a pretty girl with black eyes and hair and rosy cheeks, answered frankly that she was awfully glad Anne had come to live at Green Gables and that it would be jolly to have someone to play with. But Anne demanded more than casual liking: she insisted on a vow.

The Oath Over Imaginary Running Water

Anne proposed that they swear to be friends forever and ever. When Diana looked shocked and said it was dreadfully wicked to swear, Anne explained that there were two kinds of swearing—the wicked kind and the kind that meant vowing and promising solemnly. Relieved, Diana agreed. Anne instructed that they must join hands and that the oath ought to be over running water; since no real stream was at hand, she declared they would imagine the path was running water. Anne repeated the oath first: "I solemnly swear to be faithful to my bosom friend, Diana Barry, as long as the sun and moon shall endure." Diana repeated the words, putting Anne's name in place of her own. Diana then remarked that Anne was a queer girl—she had heard that before—but that she believed she was going to like her real well.

The Immediate Consequences of the Vow

The vow had an immediate and powerful effect on Anne. When she and Marilla Cuthbert went home, Diana walked with them as far as the log bridge, the two little girls with their arms about each other. At the brook they parted with many promises to spend the next afternoon together. Anne, blissfully unconscious of any sarcasm in Marilla's voice, declared herself the happiest girl on Prince Edward Island at that very moment. She assured Marilla she would say her prayers with a right good-will that night. The vow also gave Anne something tangible to give Diana: Matthew Cuthbert had brought her chocolate sweeties from Carmody, and Anne immediately decided to give half to Diana, saying the other half would taste twice as sweet if she gave some to her friend. Marilla noted approvingly that Anne was not stingy, a quality she valued.

The Vow as a Source of Comfort in Separation

The vow proved its enduring power when the two friends were forcibly separated after the currant wine incident. Mrs. Barry, believing Anne had deliberately made Diana drunk, forbade Diana to play with Anne. During their ten-minute farewell by the Dryad's Bubble, Anne asked Diana to promise faithfully never to forget her, the friend of her youth, no matter what dearer friends might caress her. Diana sobbed that she would never have another bosom friend and that she couldn't love anybody as she loved Anne. Anne, astonished and overwhelmed, asked if Diana truly loved her. Diana affirmed it, and Anne said nobody had ever loved her since she could remember. Diana declared, "I love you devotedly, Anne, and I always will, you may be sure of that." Anne, extending her hand solemnly, replied, "And I will always love thee, Diana." She then asked for a lock of Diana's jet-black tresses to treasure forevermore, and with her patchwork scissors, she solemnly clipped one of Diana's curls. Anne stood and watched Diana out of sight, mournfully waving her hand, and returned to the house not a little consoled by this romantic parting.

The Vow's Role in Reconciliation and Endurance

The vow was not broken by the separation. Diana smuggled a note and a bookmarker to Anne at school, and Anne replied with a letter signed "Yours until death us do part." When Anne saved Minnie May Barry from croup, Mrs. Barry relented and the friendship was restored. Anne and Diana immediately renewed their intimacy, pledging a solemn vow never to reveal a new fancy crochet stitch to anyone else. The vow also served as a benchmark for future friendships. When Anne went to Queen's Academy, she promised Diana that no Queen's girl, no matter how much she liked her, would ever be as dear to her as Diana was. The vow, born in a garden over an imaginary stream, became the foundational promise of Anne's new life, a sacred bond that survived misunderstanding, separation, and the passage of time, and that defined the deepest friendship of her girlhood.