{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17521/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17521","id":"gutenberg_17521","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17521","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairy tales","Fantasy literature"],"text":"E-text prepared by Al Haines\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original lovely illustrations.\n      See 17521-h.htm or 17521-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/2/17521/17521-h/17521-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/2/17521/17521-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nEVERYCHILD\n\nA Story Which The Old May Interpret to the Young\nand Which the Young May Interpret to the Old\n\nby\n\nLOUIS DODGE\n\nIllustrated by Blanche Fisher Laite\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Frontispiece: \"Poor Cinderella.\"]\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nCharles Scribner's Sons\n1921\nCopyright, 1921, by\nCharles Scribner's Sons\n\n\n\n\n\nTO FREDERICA BRITTON\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPART I\n\nARGUMENT:--_Everychild encounters the giant Fear and sets forth on a\nstrange journey_.\n\nCHAPTER\n\n      I. THE TWO STRANGERS\n     II. EVERYCHILD'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE GIANT\n    III. EVERYCHILD ENCOUNTERS ALADDIN OF THE WONDERFUL LAMP\n     IV. EVERYCHILD IS JOINED BY HANSEL AND GRETTEL\n      V. A DASHING YOUTH IN THE FOREST\n     VI. A FIGHT WHICH WAS STRANGELY ENDED\n    VII. THE ADVENTURE OF WILL O'DREAMS\n\n\nPART II\n\nARGUMENT:--_Everychild pities the sorrow of Cinderella and rejoices in\nher release from bondage; he encounters a dog that looks upon him with\nfavor_.\n\n   VIII. A PURSUIT IN THE DARK\n     IX. CINDERELLA AT HOME\n      X. CINDERELLA'S DECISION\n     XI. SOME ONE PASSES WITH A SONG ON THE ROAD OF TROUBLED CHILDREN\n    XII. EVERYCHILD BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH A POOR DOG\n   XIII. A TERRIBLE LADY AT HOME\n    XIV. MR. LITERAL'S WARNING\n\n\nPART III\n\nARGUMENT:--_Every child views with amazement a famous dwelling-place,\nand is grieved by the plight of an unfortunate prince_.\n\n     XV. A STRANGE HOUSE IN THE FOREST\n    XVI. AN ELABORATION OF ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST SUCCINCT CHAPTERS\n   XVII. EVERYCHILD, WITH ADDITIONAL COMPANIONS,\n         FINDS REFUGE IN AN OLD HOUSE\n  XVIII. HOW THE HAND OF A CHAMBERLAIN TREMBLED\n    XIX. HOW AN UNFORTUNATE PRINCE ESCAPED\n\n\nPART IV\n\nARGUMENT:--_Everychild's feet are drawn to the spot where the sleeping\nbeauty in the wood lies.  Time passes_.\n\n     XX. A SONG IN A GARDEN\n    XXI. AN ENCOUNTER IN THE ATTIC\n   XXII. THE END OF A HUNDRED YEARS\n  XXIII. THE AWAKENING\n   XXIV. TIME PASSES\n\n\nPART V\n\nARGUMENT:--_On his wanderings Everychild bethinks him of his parents,\nand discovers that though he has seemed to lose them, he has not really\ndone so_.\n\n    XXV. WILL O'DREAMS REPORTS A DISCOVERY\n   XXVI. THE HIDDEN TEMPLE\n  XXVII. HOW EVIL DAYS CAME UPON THE CASTLE\n XXVIII. THE MOUNTAIN OF REALITY\n   XXIX. THE MASKED LADY'S SECRET\n    XXX. WILL O'DREAMS MAKES A DISCOVERY\n   XXXI. HOW ALADDIN MADE A WISH\n  XXXII. THE HALL OF PARENTS\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n   \"Poor Cinderella\" . . . . . . _Frontispiece_\n\n   \"You are Hansel and Grettel\"\n\n   \"Masterpieces indeed!--in a forest!  _There_ are masterpieces\"\n\n   She sniffed as if there were a fire somewhere\n\n   \"As for living in a shoe--there's plenty of females that live in two\"\n\n   They began a game which consisted of singing and dancing\n\n\n\n\nPART I\n\nARGUMENT:--EVERYCHILD ENCOUNTERS THE GIANT FEAR AND SETS FORTH ON A\nSTRANGE JOURNEY.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE TWO STRANGERS\n\nIt did not seem a very pleasant room.  To be sure, there were a great\nmany nice things in it.  There was rose-colored paper on the wall, and\nthe woodwork was of ivory, with gilt lines.  There were pictures of\nships on the ocean and of high trees and of the sun going down behind a\nhill, and there was one of an old mill with nobody at all in sight.\nAnd there was one picture with dogs in it.\n\nThere was a soft rug, also of rose-color, and a fine clock, shaped like\na state capitol, on the mantel.  There was a silver gong in the clock\nwhich made beautiful music.  There was a nice reading table with books\non it, and a lamp.  The lamp had a shade made up of queerly-shaped bits\nof material like onyx, and a fringe of rose-colored beads.  Yet for all\nthis, it did not seem a pleasant room.  You could feel that something\nwas wrong.  You know, there are always so many things in a room which\nyou cannot see.\n\nA lady and a gentleman sat at the reading-table, one on either side.\nIt seemed they hadn't a word to say to each other.  They did not even\nlook at each other.  The lady turned the pages of a magazine without\nseeing a single thing.  The gentleman sat staring straight before him,\nand after a long time he stretched himself and said: \"Ho--hum!\"  And\nthen he began to frown and to stare at an oak chair over against the\nwall.\n\nYou might have supposed he had a grudge against the chair; and it\nseemed that the chair might be crying out to him in its own language:\n\"I am not merely a chair.  Look at me!  I was a limb on a mighty oak.\nI was a child of the sun and the rain and the earth.  I used to sing\nand dance.  Oh, do not look at me like that!\"  But the gentleman knew\nnothing of all this.\n\nBoth the lady and the gentleman were thinking of nothing but themselves\nand they continued to do this even when a door opened and their son\nentered the room.\n\nTheir son's name was Everychild; and because he is to be the most\nimportant person in this story I should like to tell you as much about\nhim as I can.  But really, there is very little I can tell.  His mother\noften said that he was a peculiar child.  It was almost impossible to\ntell what his thoughts were, or his dreams, or how much he loved this\nperson or that, or what he desired most.\n\nIt was difficult for him to get into the room.  He was carrying\nsomething which he could not manage very well.  But no one offered to\nhelp him.  Presently he had got quite into the room, leaving the door\nopen.\n\nThe thing he carried was a kite, and he was holding it high to keep it\nfree of the ground.  The tail had got caught in the string and there\nwas a rent in the blue paper.\n\nThe clock struck just as he entered and he stopped to count the\nstrokes.  Seven.  The last stroke died away with a quivering sound.\nThen with faltering feet he approached his father.\n\nHis father was frowning.  He stopped and pondered.  He had seen that\nfrown on his father's face many times before, and it had always puzzled\nhim.  Sometimes it would come while you watched, and you couldn't think\nwhat made it come.  Or it would go away in the strangest manner,\nwithout anything having happened at all.  It was a great mystery.\n\nThe frown did not go away this time; and presently Everychild\napproached his father timidly.  It was rather difficult for him to\nspeak; but he managed to say:\n\n\"Daddy, do you think you could fix it for me?\"  He brought the torn\nkite further forward and held it higher.\n\nHis father did not look at him at all!\n\nEverychild's heart pounded loudly.  How could one go on speaking to a\nperson who would not even look?  Yet he persisted.  \"Could you?\" he\nrepeated.\n\nHis father moved a little, but still he did not look at Everychild.  He\nsaid rather impatiently: \"Never mind now, son.\"\n\nThen his mother spoke.  She had glanced up from her magazine.  \"You've\nleft the door open, Everychild,\" she said.\n\nEverychild put his kite down with care.  He returned to the door.  It\nwas a stubborn door.  He pulled at it once and again.  It closed with a\nbang.\n\n\"Everychild!\" exclaimed his mother.  The noise had made her jump a\nlittle.\n\n\"It always bangs when you close it,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"It wouldn't bang if you didn't open it,\" said his mother.\n\nHe returned and stood beside his father.\n\n\"You know you used to fix things for me,\" he said.  He reflected and\nbrightened a little.  \"And play with me,\" he added.  \"Don't you\nremember?\"\n\nBut just then it seemed that his father and mother thought of something\nto say to each other.  Their manner was quite unpleasant.  They talked\nwithout waiting for each other to get through, and Everychild could not\nunderstand a thing they were saying.  He withdrew a little and waited.\n\nBut when his parents had talked a little while, rather loudly, his\nfather got up and went out.  He put his hat on, pulling it down over\nhis eyes.  And _he_ banged the door.  But it was the outside door this\ntime, which never banged at all if you were careful.\n\nAnd then his mother got up and went to her own room--which meant that\nshe mustn't be disturbed.\n\nEverychild stood for a moment, puzzled; and then he thought of the\nbroken kite in his hands.  He plucked at it slowly.  You would have\nsupposed that he did not care greatly, now, whether the kite got mended\nor not.  But little by little he became interested in the kite.  He sat\ndown on the floor and began to untangle the tail.\n\nHe scarcely knew when the inner door opened and the cook entered the\nroom.\n\nShe was a large, plain person.  Her face was redder than Everychild's\nmother's face, but not so pretty.  Her eyes often seemed tired, but\nnever too tired to beam a little.\n\n\"Are you all alone, Everychild?\" she asked.  She did not wait for a\nreply, but asked another question: \"Is something wrong with your kite?\"\nAnd again without waiting for a reply she added: \"Maybe I could fix it\nfor you!\"\n\nAnd she got down on the rug on her knees and took the kite from his\nhands.\n\nEverychild, standing beside her, looked into her rather sad, kind eyes,\nwhich were closer to him than he remembered their ever having been\nbefore.  There were little moist lines about them, and they were faded.\nHer hands were not at all like his mother's hands.  Not nearly so nice:\nand yet how clever they were!  She was really untangling the tail of\nthe kite, moving it here and there with large gestures.\n\nAnd then Everychild forgot all about the kite.  Certain amazing things\nhad begun to happen near by.\n\nIt had been getting dark in the room; and now it suddenly became quite\nbright, though no one had turned the lights on.  And there was a sound\nof music--a short bit of a march, which ended all of a sudden.  And\nthen Everychild realized that by some strange process two persons had\nentered the room.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nEVERYCHILD'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE GIANT\n\nHe was almost afraid to look at the two strange persons, because their\nbeing there seemed very mysterious, and he had the thought that if he\nlooked at them steadily they might vanish.  He knew at once that they\nwere not to be treated just as if they were ordinary persons.  It was\nnot only that they had come into the room without making any noise, or\nthat there had been that burst of music, or that the light had\nbrightened.\n\nIt was rather because the cook went on untangling the kite, just as if\nnothing had happened.\n\nHe said to himself, \"She does not know they are here.  She does not\nknow I have seen anything.\"\n\nThen it occurred to him that the two strangers were not paying any\nattention to him at all, and that he might look at them as much as he\npleased.\n\nSuddenly he recognized one of them.  He had seen his picture.  It was\nFather Time.  And he could have laughed to himself because Father Time\nwas a much more pleasing person than he had been in his picture.  It is\ntrue that he carried a scythe, just as he had been pictured as doing.\nThere was a sand-glass too.  It was in two parts, connected by a narrow\nstem through which the sand was running from one part to the other.\n\nBut he did not have a long white beard, and a dark robe, and a stern\nface.  Not at all.  His eyes were all ready to twinkle.  They were the\nkindest eyes Everychild had ever seen.  You could tell by looking at\nthem that if you were to hurt yourself Father Time would pity you and\ncomfort you.  He had a rather jolly figure.  You could imagine he might\nbe very playful.  And he wore the costume of a jester--though you did\nnot feel like laughing at him, because his eyes were so friendly and\nkind.  He stood as if he were waiting to begin some sort of play.\n\nThen Everychild looked at the other stranger.  She was a lady, and very\ndistinguished looking.  He did not recognize her, though he felt at\nonce that she was a very important person.  She was dressed all in\nshimmering white.  She was very fair and her hair was dressed\nbeautifully.  She wore a band about her hair and there was a jewel in\nit, like a star.  She wore a little mask over her eyes so that you\ncould not be sure at once whether she was a kind person or not.  She\nsat at a spinning wheel, and the wheel went round and round without\nmaking any noise.  She was spinning something.  She looked very\ntranquil.\n\nEverychild was becoming greatly excited.  He touched the cook on the\nhand.  \"Didn't it seem to you to get much lighter?\" he asked.\n\n\"Lighter?  No.  It's getting darker,\" she replied.\n\n\"And--and didn't you hear any music, either?\"\n\n\"I heard nothing.\"\n\nIt made him feel almost forlorn to have the cook say she had not\nnoticed anything.  He drew closer to her.  \"Never mind the kite now,\"\nhe said.  \"I want you . . .  Oh, don't you see anything at all?  Please\nlook!\"  He stood with one finger on his lip, staring at Father Time and\nthe Masked Lady.\n\nShe regarded him almost with alarm.  \"Lord bless the child, what's\ncoming over him?\" she exclaimed.  \"There's nothing there!\"  She\nfollowed the direction of his eyes, and then she looked at him with an\nindulgent smile.  \"There, put your kite away,\" she said.  \"It's all\nright now except for that rent in it.  I'll mend that to-morrow.  And\ntry to be a good boy.  You mustn't be fanciful, you know!\"\n\nShe patted him on the back and then she left the room.\n\nHe stood quite forlorn, watching her depart.  Then with nervous haste\nhe made as if to follow her.  But at the door, which she had closed, he\nstopped.  You could tell that he was making up his mind to do\nsomething.  Then he turned slowly so that he faced Father Time and the\nMasked Lady.  Presently he took a step in their direction.  And at\nlength, with a very great effort, he spoke.\n\n\"Please--tell me who you are!\" he said.\n\nIt was Father Time who replied.  He replied in a voice which was quite\nthrilling, though not at all terrifying:\n\n\"We are the true friends of Everychild!\"\n\nEverychild brought his hands together in perplexity.  \"Friends?\" he\nsaid.  \"I--I think I never saw you before.  I may have seen your\npicture.  Yours, I mean.  Not the--the lady's.  And I'm not sure I know\nyour right name.  If you'd tell me, and if--if the lady would take her\nmask off----\"\n\nBut Father Time interrupted him.  In a solemn voice he said,\n\"Everychild, I have come to bid you leave all that has been closest to\nyou and set forth upon a strange journey.\"\n\nAt this Everychild was deeply awed.  Perhaps he was a little\nfrightened.  \"All that has been closest?\" he repeated.  \"My mother and\nfather--it is they who have always been closest.\"\n\n\"Everychild must bid farewell to father and mother,\" declared Father\nTime.\n\nAnd now Everychild was indeed dismayed.  \"Bid farewell to them?\" he\nechoed.  \"Oh, please . . . and shall I never see them again?\"  He\nwished very much to approach Father Time and plead with him; but Father\nTime held up an arresting hand and spoke again, almost as if he were a\nminister in church.\n\n\"It is not given to Everychild to know what the future holds,\" he said.\nAnd then he again made a polite gesture toward the Masked Lady.  \"Only\nshe can tell what the end of the journey shall be,\" he said.\n\nIt was now that Everychild looked earnestly at the Masked Lady.  If she\nwould only take her mask off!  With a great effort he asked--\"And\nshe--will she befriend me when I have gone from my father and mother?\"\n\nWith the deepest assurance Father Time replied, \"Give her your\naffection and she will befriend you in every hour of loss and pain,\nclear to the end of your journey--and beyond.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Everychild, \"she--she doesn't look very--she looks\nrather--rather fearful, doesn't she?\"\n\n\"She is beautiful only to those who love her,\" said Father Time.\n\nThis seemed reassuring; and now Everychild ventured to address the\nMasked Lady directly.  \"And--and will you go with me?\" he asked timidly.\n\nShe replied with great earnestness: \"Everychild, go where you will, you\nhave only to desire me greatly and I shall be with you.\"\n\nThen it seemed to Everychild that it would not be a very terrible thing\nto go away, after all.\n\nIt was plain that Father Time and the Masked Lady were waiting for him\nto go; and so without any more ado he boldly approached the door which\nopened out upon the street.  But his heart failed him again.  He drew\nback from the door and cried out--\"No, no!  I cannot.  I cannot go out\nthat way.  Is there no other way for me to go?\"\n\nIt seemed to him that his heart must cease to beat when Father Time\nexclaimed in a loud voice--\n\n\"Go, Everychild!\"\n\nStill he hung back.  \"But not that way!\" he repeated.  \"The wide world\nlies that way, and I should be afraid.\"\n\n\"I know,\" said Father Time, \"that the Giant Fear lives outside that\ndoor.  But him you shall slay, and then the way will be clear.\"\n\n\"_I_ shall slay him?\" exclaimed Everychild wonderingly.  \"How shall I\nslay him?\"\n\n\"Do not doubt, and a way shall be found.\"\n\nIt was just at this moment that something very terrifying occurred.\nThere was a stealthy step outside the door--the sort of step you hear\nwhen it is dark and you are alone.  And Everychild could not help\nshrinking back as he stood with his fascinated eyes held on the door.\nHe was staring at the door, yet he knew that the Masked Lady and Father\nTime were listening to that stealthy step too.  The Masked Lady had put\naside her spinning wheel, and Father Time had become very grave.\n\nThere was a brief interval of suspense and then the door began to open,\ninch by inch, very slowly.  Two terrible eyes became visible.\n\nEverychild knew immediately that it was the Giant Fear, though for a\nmoment he could see nothing but the peeping eyes which leered horribly.\nAnd when the Giant Fear perceived that Everychild was terrified, he\nthrust the door open wide and stood on the threshold.\n\nHe was, I may tell you at once, the most hideous creature in the world.\nHis cruel grin was too evil a thing to be described.  He carried a\ngreat bludgeon.  From his lower jaw a yellow tusk arose at either\ncorner of his mouth and projected beyond his upper lip.  His ears\ncovered the whole sides of his head.  His jaws were as large around as\na bushel basket.\n\nAt first, after he had entered the room, he did not perceive either\nFather Time or the Masked Lady.  He dropped one end of his bludgeon to\nthe floor with a thump, and there he stood leering at Everychild with a\nsinister and triumphant expression.\n\nOnly a moment he stood, and then he advanced a step toward Everychild.\nBut just at that instant Father Time moved slightly and the intruder\nbecame aware of his presence.  The wicked smile on his terrible face\nbegan to freeze slowly.  The great creature shrank away from Father\nTime; and as he did so he became aware of the presence of the Masked\nLady on his other side.  For an instant he trembled from head to foot!\nAnd then more hurriedly he took another step toward Everychild.\n\nEverychild was trying very hard to hold his ground; but in truth he\ncould feel his knees giving way beneath him and it seemed that he must\nfall if the giant advanced another inch.  Nor did the giant fail to\nnote that Everychild was in distress, and at this he regained something\nof his boldness.  In a loud, terrible voice he spoke to Everychild:\n\n\"Ah--ha!  And so you were getting ready to defy me--hey?\"\n\nEverychild's teeth chattered as he replied: \"Please go away!\"\n\nThe giant nodded exultantly.  In the same great voice he said, \"You\nknow me, I suppose?--the Giant Fear who always makes Everychild\ntremble?\"\n\nA calm voice interposed--the voice of Father Time: \"The Giant Fear,\nwhom Everychild may conquer!\"\n\nThe voice was so reassuring, and the eyes of Father Time were so calm\nand friendly, that Everychild ceased to despair.  With trembling limbs\nhe ran to Father Time.  \"If you would lend me your scythe----\" he\ngasped.  He laid a hand on the scythe of Father Time.\n\nBut Father Time withheld the scythe.  He said gently, \"The scythe of\nFather Time is a wonderful weapon; but a better one is at Everychild's\ncommand.  Behold!\"\n\nAs he spoke he pointed majestically to the Masked Lady.\n\nShe had arisen, and Everychild saw that she held aloft a slim, shining\nsword!\n\nA hush fell within the room; but presently Everychild, addressing\nFather Time, whispered: \"A sword!  And may I take it?\"\n\nWith a very firm voice Father Time replied: \"You may, and with it you\nshall prevail!\"\n\nOddly enough, Everychild forgot for the moment that he was in peril.\nHe drew near to the Masked Lady, and he could see that she was smiling.\nShe placed the sword in his hand.\n\nAt first he held it awkwardly, yet he looked at it with shining eyes.\nThen he turned about, holding the sword forward, as the Masked Lady had\nheld it.  He could feel that the hilt of the sword was beginning to fit\nsnugly into his hand.\n\nGradually a strange transformation occurred.  His body straightened,\nhis eyes shone more than ever.  He took a step forward, and he knew\nthat his knees were no longer trembling.  In a clear voice he cried out\nto the Giant Fear:\n\n\"Defend yourself!\"\n\nBut the giant reeled and trembled.  He tried to hold his bludgeon\naloft, but his hands shook so that it nearly fell.  He became as pale\nas death, and it was quite impossible for him to meet Everychild's eye.\nHe retreated with stumbling steps.  It seemed that he would fall.  His\npower had deserted him.\n\nHe made a last, terrible effort to lift his bludgeon; but Everychild\ndarted forward with the speed of lightning, holding his sword before\nhim.  It was a very sharp sword, and it pierced the giant's body as\neasily as if the great creature had been made of paper.\n\nThe Giant Fear tottered.  His bludgeon slipped from his grasp and his\neyes became dim.  He fell with a crash.  He was dead!\n\nAt that very moment a sound of distant music could be heard.  It was\nall very wonderful.  The music drew nearer; it sounded more loudly.\n\nEverychild turned and restored the slim sword to the Masked Lady.\n\n\"Do you not wish to keep it?\" she asked.\n\nBut it seemed to Everychild that he had no need of the sword, now that\nthe Giant Fear was dead.  \"Thank you, I shall not need it again,\" he\nsaid.\n\nShe said, in a strange, sad voice, \"Alas, the greatest need of my sword\narises after fear is gone!\"\n\nBut he scarcely heeded her now.  The sound of music was heard much\nnearer.  He lifted his eyes and beheld the door which had always stood\nbetween him and the world.  He drew nearer to the door.  It was wide\nopen.\n\nHe heard the voice of Father Time: \"The moment has arrived for you to\ngo, Everychild!\"\n\nHe caught step with the music, which was very loud now.\n\nHe marched valiantly away.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nEVERYCHILD ENCOUNTERS ALADDIN OF THE WONDERFUL LAMP\n\nHe knew he could go wherever he pleased, and so with very little delay\nhe entered a deep forest.  It was evening and the wind was sighing in\nthe great trees.  A winding road stretched before him like a gray\nribbon.\n\nSoon he came to where a boy sat by the side of the road.  The boy sat\non a small Oriental rug, and by his side stood a very peculiar lamp.\nThe boy was clad in a purple garment made of silk, with slippers to\nmatch.  He wore a very fine skull-cap, also of silk, and a pig-tail\nhung down his back.  His eyes were very peculiar.  They were placed in\nhis head a little on end; but they were bright and friendly.  His mouth\nwas like a little bow.  The lips were merry and red.  His cheeks were\nlike peaches.\n\nEverychild stopped and looked at the boy, and the boy smiled at him.\n\"I am trying to think of your name,\" said Everychild, pondering.\nSurely he had seen this boy before--but where?\n\n\"Everychild knows me,\" returned the boy.  \"My name is Aladdin.\"\n\n\"Aladdin--of course!\" said Everychild.  He sat down by Aladdin on the\nOriental rug.  \"And this is your lamp,\" he said, his eyes shining.\n\n\"Alas!--yes,\" replied Aladdin sadly; and Everychild was surprised that\nAladdin could speak sadly.  But Aladdin said no more about the lamp\njust then.  He turned his eyes, which seemed a bit askew, upon\nEverychild.  \"You were marching bravely as you came along,\" he said.\n\"I was watching you.  And I thought to myself, 'How can any one walk\nbravely along a road like this?'\"\n\nFor an instant Everychild's heart was troubled.  \"Isn't it a good road\nto walk on?\" he asked.\n\nAladdin's reply was: \"It is called The Road of Troubled Children.\"\n\nEverychild thought a moment.  That was a strange name, certainly.  \"It\nseems a little lonely,\" he ventured, thinking that perhaps Aladdin\nwould explain why he did not like the road.\n\n\"It is lonely,\" said Aladdin; \"yet all children walk here sometimes.\nYou see, it is a very long road, so that many may walk on it without\nencountering one another.\"\n\nNeither spoke for a moment, and there was no sound save the wind in the\ntrees.\n\nThen Aladdin said, \"When you have walked here a little longer perhaps\nyou will not walk so bravely.\"  There was an obscure smile on his lips\nas he said this.\n\nBut Everychild replied quickly, \"Oh, yes, I shall.  You see, I shall\nremember my friends.\"\n\n\"Your friends?\" asked Aladdin.\n\n\"Father Time, for one.  I wish you could have seen how he took my part!\"\n\nAladdin nodded slowly.  \"I am hoping he will be a friend to me some\nday,\" he said.\n\n\"And then there is the Masked Lady,\" continued Everychild.\n\n\"The Masked Lady?\" repeated Aladdin in a puzzled tone.\n\n\"She lent me her sword.\"\n\nBut Aladdin mused darkly until his eyes rested upon his lamp.  \"I'd\nrather persons didn't wear masks--of any sort,\" he said.  \"Sometimes\nthey are dangerous enemies.\"\n\nHe seemed so troubled as he said this that Everychild asked him, \"But\nyou, Aladdin--why are you making a journey on the Road of Troubled\nChildren?\"\n\n\"I?\" replied Aladdin in surprise.  \"Why, because I am the most troubled\nchild of all!\"\n\nEverychild could scarcely believe this.  \"And yet,\" he said, \"with your\nwonderful lamp you have only to wish for things, and they are yours!\"\n\nAladdin made ready to tell his story.  He adjusted himself more\ncomfortably on the Oriental rug, and at last he sighed deeply.  \"The\nchild who has everything is never happy,\" he said.\n\nEverychild simply could not believe this; and Aladdin read the\ndisbelief in his eyes.\n\n\"It is true,\" he said.  \"Having everything you wish for is like having\nmore money than any one else.  And in such a case, how could one be\nhappy?  How many things would be denied one!--pleasant solitude, simple\nfriendships, even a good name.  Those who had too little would envy you\nand hate you; and if you sought to relieve their distress they would\nhate you more than ever in their hearts, because you would have\ndegraded them.  You would have to be a spendthrift, which is vulgar, or\nyou would have to be a miser, which is mean.  There is an old saying in\nChinese . . . how shall I put it in your language?  Runnings fleet,\nunhampered feet.  You see?  The rich have pampered feet.  At best they\ntread soft places.  No, it is an evil thing to have too much.  I would\nthat the lamp had never been mine.\"\n\n\"If it were mine,\" said Everychild, unconvinced, \"I think I should be\nhappy.\"\n\n\"To be happy,\" said Aladdin, \"means to want something and believe you\nare going to get it after awhile.  But when you've got everything it is\na good deal worse than not having anything.  Because there's nothing\nleft for you to wish for.  And wishing for things is really the\ngreatest pleasure in the world.\"\n\n\"But to wish for things, and never to get them?\" said Everychild,\ndeeply puzzled.\n\n\"Let me explain,\" said Aladdin.  \"I remember when I was a little boy in\nPeking there came a spring when I wanted a kite.  Oh, how I longed for\na kite!  And my mother said, 'Never mind, Aladdin.  When your uncle\ncomes back from Arabia, where he has gone with the camel train, perhaps\nhe will bring you a kite!'  And I was very happy all the spring and\nsummer, thinking I should have a kite when my uncle came back from the\ncamel train.  And it was not until the next year, when I no longer\ncared very much about having a kite, that I learned how my uncle had\ndied in the desert, quite early in the spring the year before.\"\n\n\"And then,\" asked Everychild, \"were you not unhappy?\"\n\n\"No.  You see, by that time I had begun to wish for something else.\nThis time it was a pair of little doves which a merchant had brought\nfrom far away in the Himalaya mountains.  And I dreamed by day and\nnight of the time when I should own the little doves.  No coin was too\nsmall to be saved.  The little coins would become as much as a yen in\ntime.  And at last I was the proud possessor of a yen!\"\n\n\"And then you got the little doves?\"\n\n\"No.  By that time I cared more for the yen than for the little\ndoves--and besides, the doves had died.\"\n\n\"But with the--the yen, you could buy something else you wanted,\"\nsuggested Everychild.\n\n\"Not so.  By that time I coveted some ivory chessmen, worth many yen.\nAnd I was very happy, planning how some day I should become rich enough\nto buy the ivory chessmen.\"\n\n\"But if you only kept on wishing for things,\" murmured Everychild, \"and\nnever got them, you'd of course become very unhappy some day!\"\n\nBut Aladdin slowly shook his head.  \"I cannot tell how it may be,\" he\nsaid.  \"But my poor mother was always happy, and she never really got\nwhat she wished for, unless it was the last thing of all.\"\n\n\"And that?\" inquired Everychild.\n\n\"One thing led to another, in her case; and the last thing she wished\nfor was heaven.  And then she died.\"\n\nA great wind roared through the forest and died away in a sigh.\n\nPresently Aladdin spoke again: \"And another great trouble about getting\nwhat you wish for is that in most cases when you get a thing you find\nthat you didn't really want it, after all.  It proves to be not quite\nwhat you thought it; or else it came too late.\"\n\nThis statement was completed in so mournful a tone that Everychild felt\nconstrained to say, \"Why shouldn't you throw the lamp away, if it makes\nyou unhappy?\"\n\n\"It isn't possible,\" was Aladdin's rejoinder.  \"There is only one way\nin which I can be rid of it, and I haven't been able to find that way\nas yet.\"\n\nEverychild was so greatly puzzled by this statement that Aladdin\nexplained: \"I can never be rid of the lamp save on one condition.  When\nI have wished for _the best thing of all_ the lamp will disappear and I\nmay rejoice in the thought that it will never be mine again.\"\n\n\"The best thing of all?\" mused Everychild.\n\n\"You see how difficult it is.  Who can tell what is the best thing of\nall?  And so I must go on owning the lamp and being unhappy.\"\n\nBut Everychild found much of this simply bewildering.  \"Just the same,\"\nhe said after a pause, \"it must be very nice to have a lamp to rub, so\nthat you may have so many things you really want.\"\n\nHe immediately regretted having said this; for Aladdin took up his\nlamp.  \"Very well,\" he said, placing the lamp in Everychild's hands.\nAnd there was a malicious gleam in his slanting eyes as he added,\n\"Suppose you make a wish.  But I charge you!--think twice before you\nwish.\"\n\nEverychild could not take back his words; and besides, he was tempted.\nHe touched the lamp with trembling fingers.  He rubbed it, hoping that\nAladdin would not laugh at him for being awkward or inexperienced.  And\nsure enough, the genie of the lamp appeared.\n\nEverychild became quite dumb.  He cast an appealing glance at Aladdin.\n\"Won't _you_ make a wish?\" he begged.  \"After all, it's very hard,\nknowing what to wish for.\"\n\n\"It is,\" admitted Aladdin.  \"No, I'll not make a wish.  It was you who\nsummoned the genie.  You shall make your own wish!\"\n\nAt this Everychild glanced at the genie as if in search of assistance.\nBut he received no encouragement at all.  The genie really looked like\na person who had come to bring evil rather than good.  And Everychild\nfelt his heart pounding painfully, and his head throbbing.  But at last\na happy thought occurred to him.  He might make a very little wish!\n\n\"It is getting dark,\" he said to the genie, trying to speak as if he\nwere thoroughly experienced in making wishes, \"I wish I had a nice\nplace to sleep, here in the forest.\"\n\nHe had scarcely spoken when he realized that he was all alone: Aladdin\nwith his Oriental rug and his lamp was gone; the genie was gone.  His\nhand was resting upon something very soft and cool.  It seemed like a\ncarpet, though finer than any carpet he had ever seen.  And he\nremembered how his mother had scolded him more than once for lying on\nthe carpet at home.\n\n\"But no one will scold me for lying here,\" he reflected.\n\nSo it came about that on his first night away from home he slept on the\nbeautiful green carpet, with the Road of Troubled Children hard by.\n\nAnd he could not know that the thing he had wished for, and which had\nbeen given him was the very thing which poor beggars, beloved of God,\nare granted every tranquil summer night.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nEVERYCHILD IS JOINED BY HANSEL AND GRETTEL\n\nIn the morning he went on his way along the Road of Troubled Children;\nand it seemed to him that he had gone a very great distance when he\nheard voices by the roadside.  They were the voices of children, and it\nwas plain to Everychild that they were in trouble.\n\nHe waited until they came close, and then his heart bounded, because he\nrecognized them.  He had often seen their pictures.  They were Hansel\nand Grettel.\n\nHansel was saying sorrowfully, \"I am afraid they are all gone, Grettel,\nand we shall never be able to find our home again.\"\n\nIt was then that Everychild stepped forward.  \"I know you,\" he said,\ntrying to seem really friendly.  \"_You are Hansel and Grettel.  Your\nparents lost you in the woods to be rid of you_--because there wasn't\nenough to eat at home.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"You are Hansel and Grettel.\"]\n\nHansel and Grettel looked at each other with round eyes.  \"It is true,\"\nthey replied in unison.  \"But to think it should have got about\nalready!  Who are you?\"\n\nEverychild addressed himself to Hansel--who, by the way, was a fat boy\nwith wooden shoes and a tiny homespun jacket and trousers of the same\nstuff, the trousers being very floppy about the ankles.  \"I am\nEverychild,\" he said.  \"And if I were you I'd not try to go home to\nsuch a father and mother.  You know, they still had half a loaf left.\"\n\n\"At least,\" said Hansel, \"I'd like to go home until that half a loaf is\ngone!\"\n\nFor a second Grettel looked at her brother as if she really could not\nthink of a suitably severe rebuke.  \"Our poor father and mother!\" she\nexclaimed.  \"No doubt they thought we should find food in the forest,\nor that we should encounter travelers who'd have a bite to spare.\"\n\n\"At any rate,\" said Everychild, \"it's no use your searching any more.\nYou're looking for the crumbs you dropped, so you'd find the way home.\nBut I should think you could guess the birds had eaten them all up!\"\n\nHansel turned to Grettel, his eyes more round than ever.  \"It must be\ntrue!\" he exclaimed.\n\n\"Where you made your mistake was in not dropping pebbles, the way you\ndid the first time--though I suppose you couldn't have got the pebbles,\nbeing locked up in your room the night before.  Anyway, it's no use\nyour trying to go back.  Even if you found the way, the same thing\nwould happen again.  Your father made a great mistake when he agreed to\nlose you the first time, simply because your mother asked him to.  You\nknow what the book says: 'If a man yields once he's done for.'  You'd\nmuch better go along with me.\"\n\nHansel became all curiosity at once.  \"Where to?\" he asked.\n\nEverychild undertook to reply quite frankly; but all of a sudden he\nbecame dumb.  It had seemed to him that he knew very well where he was\ngoing.  Even now he felt that the answer ought to be perfectly simple.\nJust the same, he could not think of a single word!\n\nThen he heard a voice behind him.  \"He has set forth on a quest of\nTruth!\" said the voice.\n\nThat was it, of course!  He turned gratefully--and there was the Masked\nLady!  She seemed to be smiling to herself, as if she had thought of\nsomething which amused her.  But on the whole her manner was really\nfriendly and serious.\n\nNevertheless, Everychild was not at all sure that he was glad to see\nher.  The mask she wore really did give her a very strange appearance.\nStill, he faced Hansel with a certain proud bearing.  \"That is it,\" he\nsaid.\n\nAnd then he turned about again to look at the Masked Lady, for he had\nnoted that there was something strange about her appearance.  She had\nleft her spinning wheel somewhere.  Now she carried the crook of a\nshepherdess.  One hand rested lightly on the limb of a tree.  And there\nwere sheep not far away.  Some were lying on the grass resting; and\nsome were moving about, their eyes and noses seemingly very much\nalive--and their tails.  They wiggled their tails with the greatest\nenergy.\n\n\"I didn't expect to see _you_ here,\" said Everychild.\n\nThe Masked Lady replied, again with that queer smile about her lips, \"I\nam very often near when you think I am far away.\"\n\nAnd then Everychild perceived another person standing not far from the\nMasked Lady: a little man wearing large spectacles and thread-bare\nclothes.  He was looking at nothing whatever save a note-book which he\ncarried in his hand, and he was scribbling intently.  Occasionally he\nlifted his hand high and touched the note-book with his pencil, and\ndrew the pencil away with a precise movement.  This was when he was\nmaking a period.\n\n\"And the--the gentleman,\" said Everychild.  \"Is he somebody who belongs\nto you?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady seemed surprised by this question, until she perceived\nthe little man with the note-book.  Then she replied lightly--\"Oh--him!\nThat's Mr. Literal.  No, he doesn't belong with me.  Quite the\ncontrary.  Though I believe he likes to be seen in my company.\"\n\nEverychild stared at the little man called Mr. Literal.  \"I don't like\nhis looks at all,\" he admitted.  \"Maybe he'll go away after awhile?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady aroused herself slightly.  \"I can tell you something\nabout him,\" she said.  \"He's . . . you know the kind of boy who is\nforever tagging along--when you want to go anywhere, I mean?  Who is\nforever disagreeing with you, and wanting things done in a different\nway?  Who winds up by tattling?  A tattle-tale I think perhaps you call\nit.\"\n\nEverychild nodded his head.  \"You mean a snitch?\" he asked.\n\nThe Masked Lady flinched a little, though she smiled too.  \"Is that the\nword?\" she asked.  \"Well, I've no doubt it's as good as another.  If\nyou like you may think of Mr. Literal as a--a snitch.\"\n\nThe little man made a period on his note-book and drew his pencil away\nwith a precise movement.  He looked at the Masked Lady with a smug\nsmile.  \"That word _snitch_,\" he said.  \"It's entirely out of place,\nyou know--after you've once introduced Aladdin and Hansel and Grettel\nin your story.  And a giant.  It's slang, and it came into use long\nafter the race of giants became extinct.\"\n\nThe Masked Lady replied calmly: \"The race of giants has never become\nextinct.\"\n\nMr. Literal had not ceased to smile in his smug fashion.  \"Ah, well,\"\nhe said; and he began to scribble again, and while he did so he\nwandered away.  You'd have said he had not the slightest idea where he\nwas.  He had not even seen Hansel and Grettel!\n\nEverychild looked after the retreating Mr. Literal until he remembered\nsuddenly that he had asked Hansel and Grettel to go along with him.\nThen he heard Grettel say in a really eager voice: \"A quest of Truth!\nThat sounds very interesting to me!\"\n\nBut Hansel had to spoil it all by saying: \"It would sound more\ninteresting to me if he said he was looking for something to eat.\"\n\nGrettel said, \"Oh, Hansel!\" in such a tone that Everychild regarded her\nmore closely.  She was really quite charming in her wooden shoes, and\nher ample blue skirt, somewhat short, and her waist of terra-cotta\ncolor, with white sleeves.  She had on a linen cap shaped somewhat like\na sunbonnet.  She turned to her brother and spoke with a good deal of\nemphasis.  \"Anyway, it's plain you'll not find any sausages growing on\nthe trees.  For my part, I'd rather go somewhere.  Especially since\nwe've got a nice boy to go with us.  Anything would be better than\nspending another night in the woods.  I simply don't believe I could\nbear it.  The noises . . . there's something dreadful about the noises,\nwhen you can't bar a door between you and them.\"\n\nHansel grunted very inelegantly.  \"Noises!\" he retorted.  \"That's just\nlike a girl.  The only noise that bothers me is the rumbling of my\ninsides.  I'm _hungry_.\"\n\nGrettel closed her eyes as if this were really too much.  She seemed\nunable to think of a word to say.\n\nThen Hansel said to Everychild: \"I don't mind going with you.  Only,\nyou'll have to let Grettel go along too and you can't go very far with\na girl without something happening.\"\n\n\"Of course, she'd go along,\" said Everychild.  \"As for something\nhappening, it might be something nice more likely than not.\"\n\nAt this Grettel clasped her hands in ecstacy.  \"What a nice boy!\" she\nexclaimed.\n\nBut Hansel only gave her a lofty look.  \"I haven't seen him do anything\ngreat,\" he said.  \"Now, if he could show us something to eat . . .\"\n\n\"At least,\" said Grettel, \"he wants to keep on going, while you're all\nfor turning back.  I think he speaks very sensibly.\"  And she came\nforward with a pretty blush on her cheeks and took a seat demurely by\nEverychild's side.\n\nShe was really startled when Hansel, in his most offensive voice,\nexclaimed--\"Grettel!  Don't you know you're not allowed to sit on the\nground in your best dress?\"\n\nBut she managed to say, with a certain amount of independence, \"Oh,\nHansel--as if anything mattered now!  Don't you see that if we're not\ngoing back we'll have to make rules for ourselves from now on?  I've\nalways wanted to do whatever I pleased in my best dress, and I'm not\ngoing to miss the chance now!\"\n\nHansel looked knowingly at Everychild, and jerked his head toward\nGrettel.  \"Females!\" he said.  \"That's why you have to sit on them.\nThey're like kites.  Once you let them go they're over in the next\nfield standing on their heads.\"\n\nBut Everychild thought he should rather talk to Grettel.  He looked at\nher with a smile, and immediately she began to pluck at her skirt and\npat her hair and look at him out of a corner of her eye.  He said: \"It\nwas good of your parents, wasn't it, to put your best clothes on you\nwhen they meant to lose you?\"\n\nShe replied promptly: \"I should have thought it very mean of them if\nthey hadn't.\"\n\nHansel seemed to agree with his sister for once; and he added to what\nshe had said, \"And you'll notice they didn't put any bread and cheese\nin the pockets, so far as anybody can find out.\"\n\nBut Grettel threw her hands up and permitted her head to wilt over on\none side.  \"There!  We might just as well be going,\" she said.  \"Hansel\nnever has a decent word to say.  When he's hungry he growls; and when\nhe's eaten he nods.  For my part, it would be a relief to see him nod\nawhile.  Come, let's be getting along!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nA DASHING YOUTH IN THE FOREST\n\nAnd so they set forth along the road.  They had not gone far, however,\nwhen they espied a youth crossing the road before them.\n\nIt could be seen at once that he was on a very important mission, and\nEverychild said to his companions, \"Perhaps we ought not to disturb\nhim.  Let us wait, and it may be that he will cross the road and go on\nhis way.\"\n\nBut the youth did not do this.  He had heard the children approaching,\nand he remained standing in the road, waiting for them to come up.\n\nGrettel was already looking at the youth out of the corner of her eye\nand smiling.\n\n\"I'm going to speak to him,\" declared Hansel.\n\n\"Hansel!\" exclaimed Grettel; \"we mustn't disturb him!\"  And she glanced\nat Everychild for approval--though she hastily turned again so that she\nwas observing the strange youth out of the comer of her eye, and she\nsmiled more invitingly than ever.\n\n\"I don't care!\" retorted Hansel.  \"He looks like a rich man's son, and\nhe might tell us where we could get something to eat.\"\n\nJust then the strange youth began to approach them with a proud air.\nHe was really very handsome.  He was very sturdy, and he was clothed\nsmartly in a velvet jacket and knee breeches.  A fine cloak fell\nloosely from his shoulders.  He wore a plumed hat and carried a sword.\n\nAs he drew near Hansel said: \"Hello!  Have they been trying to lose you\ntoo?\"\n\nIt was then that Everychild recognized the strange youth as Jack the\nGiant Killer; and at the same time he heard Grettel whispering:\n\n\"How handsome he is!\"\n\nJack the Giant Killer replied smilingly to Hansel: \"Lose me?  Not at\nall!  It's plain you don't know who I am.\"  He touched his breast\nlightly with his forefinger.  \"I am Jack the Giant Killer.\"  He then\nbrought his heels together and removed his hat with a wide gesture, and\nmade a fine bow.\n\n\"I recognized you,\" said Everychild, \"though I didn't know you lived in\nthis neighborhood.  I mean, near Hansel and Grettel.\"\n\nJack replied with a certain neat air: \"I don't live anywhere in\nparticular.  Did you never hear of my seven-league hoots?  I have a way\nof bobbing up wherever there are any giants.\"\n\nIn the meantime Grettel had sat down on a grassy bank beside the road.\n\"It's very tiresome, walking,\" she said.  And then, very politely (to\nJack), \"Won't you sit down?\"\n\nHe accepted this invitation, and Everychild and Hansel also sat down.\n\nGrettel sighed and said: \"I'd like so much to hear about your fights\nwith the giants.  It must be wonderful to know how to fight.\"\n\nJack could not help saying \"Ho--hum!\" in a rather bored way, though he\npolitely placed his hand over his mouth.  \"There's nothing great about\nit,\" he said, \"when you're fixed for it.  I've my seven-league boots,\nand my invisible cloak, and my sword of sharpness.  You can't help\nwinning with them.  Of course, there's my wit, too.\"\n\nGrettel smiled mysteriously and nodded her head.  \"It's your wit first\nof all,\" she declared knowingly.\n\nHansel was pouting.  \"Your wit?\" he said; \"does it help you to get what\nyou want?  If it does, I'd like to know about it.\"\n\nGrettel had wriggled herself into a comfortable position; but now she\nsat up stiffly.  She put her hand over her mouth and whispered,\n\"Please, Hansel, don't say anything about _food_!\"  But she quickly\nturned an untroubled face to Jack, who was saying:\n\n\"There's the way I got old Blunderbore, for example.  You've heard\nabout that, haven't you?\"  And he looked anxiously at all three, one\nafter another.\n\nEverychild and Hansel looked at each other dubiously, but Grettel saved\nthe situation by saying, \"It was rather a long time ago.  If you'd just\ngo over it again . . .\"\n\n\"That was my most famous piece of work,\" said Jack.  \"You see, I carry\na leather pouch under my cloak.  It's filled with food----\"\n\nThere was an almost violent interruption by Hansel.  \"Food!\" he\nexclaimed.  But Grettel edged closer to him so that she could tug at\nhis sleeve without being seen.\n\n\"Of course!\" continued Jack.  \"Well, one day after I'd had dinner with\nBlunderbore I boasted that I could do something he couldn't do.  He\nlaughed--and I knew I had him.  Says I, 'Very well, I'll show you.  I'm\ngoing to rip my stomach open without feeling it.'  We'd been eating\nginger-bread, and I'd slipped a piece into my pouch.\"\n\nA strange light had come into Hansel's eyes, and he sighed with ecstacy\n\"Ginger-bread!\"\n\n\"So,\" resumed Jack, \"I plunged my knife into my pouch hidden under my\ncloak, and a fine bit of ginger-bread tumbled out.\"\n\nEverychild repeated the words--\"Into the pouch hidden under your\ncloak.\"  And Jack concluded with--\n\n\"Of course--so.\"\n\nHe made an expert pass with his sword, and instantly a number of red\napples and a dozen fine tarts rolled from under his cloak and were\nlying there on the grass.\n\nWithout even a hint of ceremony Hansel flung himself forward on his\nstomach and seized upon the tarts greedily.\n\nEven Grettel could not conceal her desire for food, and she exclaimed\njoyously, \"Oh, tarts!  Could I have one?\"\n\n\"Why not?\" replied Jack lightly; whereupon Everychild placed a number\nof the tarts in her lap, and she began to eat heartily.\n\n\"This comes of wearing one's good dress,\" said Grettel between tarts.\n\"If I'd been wearing an old rag I'd have seen no tricks, that's\ncertain.\"\n\nJack regarded her a little curiously.  \"As I was saying,\" he resumed,\n\"old Blunderbore shouted 'Pooh-hoo!' at what I had done.  That was his\nugly, boasting way, you know.  He jabbed his knife into his own stomach\nto show he wasn't to be outdone--and down he fell, dead as a doornail.\"\n\nEverychild's heart was beating hard and his face wore a troubled\nexpression.  \"I suppose,\" he said after a thoughtful pause,\n\"Blunderbore was a very wicked giant--like the Giant Fear?\"\n\nJack was frankly surprised at this question.  \"A giant is a giant,\" he\nsaid shortly.\n\nBut the troubled expression did not leave Everychild's face.  What if\nthere were a few good giants?--and what if a good giant should\nencounter Jack?\n\nHis reflections were broken in upon by a triumphant voice--Jack's\nvoice--exclaiming, \"Here's luck for you!  Here's one of them coming\nnow!\"\n\nIt was true.  A very large giant was approaching through the forest.\nAnd the strangest part of it all was that Everychild knew quite well\nthat this was a good giant.  His eyes began to shine and he was\nthrilled through and through.\n\nHe had never seen so wonderful a creature: so splendid, so powerful, so\nfascinating.  The giant seemed almost to tread on air.  He held his\nface up so that the sun shone on it.  His eyes were filled with magic.\nHe wore a wreath of leaves about his hair.  A garment like a toga fell\ngracefully from his shoulders.  He was shod with sandals.  He carried\nhis hands before him as if they would gather in the sunshine.  A smile\nhalf sly and half gentle was on his lips.\n\nEverychild clasped his hands eagerly as he gazed at the giant.  He\nseemed to know that this splendid stranger would lead him presently,\nand he was not certain whether he should wish to be led or not--whether\nit would be good or evil to be led by him.\n\nHis musing and wonder were broken in upon by Jack, who was again\nspeaking.  \"I'll give you a little exhibition of my skill,\" he said,\n\"I'll have his life before your very eyes.\"\n\nEverychild became greatly troubled.  He could not speak for a moment.\nHe could not bear to think that the giant should be slain.  He even\nventured to hope that he had no cause for fear--that so powerful a\ncreature might be depended upon to protect himself.  Yet Jack the Giant\nKiller seemed just now a very valiant figure, and it was plain that he\nbelieved it to be his duty to slay the approaching giant.\n\nIt was Grettel who replied to Jack.  \"Dear me!\" she exclaimed\nincredulously, \"How shall you do it?\"\n\n\"I haven't thought of a way yet,\" was the response.  \"It takes wit, you\nknow.  I'll think of a way before long.  Don't speak so loud.\"\n\nThe giant had come quite close to them by this time.  \"Good morning,\"\nhe said pleasantly.\n\nNot one of the children recognized him, and Everychild ventured to say,\nin a polite tone, \"Good morning . . . though I don't believe we know\nwho you are.\"  He was thinking: \"If he will only explain that he is a\ngood giant!\"\n\n\"I am known as the giant, Will o'Dreams,\" was the reply.\n\nEverychild was charmed by the beauty of his voice; but he was startled\nwhen Jack cried out sternly,--\n\n\"And what are you doing here?\"\n\nThe giant regarded Jack with thoughtful eyes.  \"A natural question, I\nam sure,\" he said after a pause.  \"Permit me to say, then, that I have\nmerely been looking at a few masterpieces.\"\n\nAt this Everychild felt a delightful sense of mystery stir within him.\nThe words seemed tremendous--and yet he could not think what they meant!\n\nBut Jack the Giant Killer nodded his head shrewdly.  And almost\ninstantly he said, \"Well, you'll look at no more masterpieces--whatever\nthey are!\"\n\nThe giant seemed to be simply amused.  \"Say you so?\" he replied.\n\nGrettel clasped her hands with delight.  \"How suitably he talks!\" said\nshe.\n\n\"I do,\" said Jack.  \"You don't know me, eh?  I'm Jack the Giant Killer.\nAnd you're just about my size.\"\n\nIt was here that Everychild interfered.  \"Maybe he's a good giant,\" he\nsaid to Jack.  And to the giant he added courteously, \"Won't you sit\ndown and rest awhile, Will o'Dreams?\"\n\n\"I thank you,\" responded the giant; and he sat down by the side of\nEverychild.\n\nAnd instantly the thought came to Everychild that at whatever cost he\nmust save the splendid stranger from that terrible sword of sharpness\nwhich Jack the Giant Killer was even now drawing from its scabbard.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nA FIGHT WHICH WAS STRANGELY ENDED\n\nIt was plain that Jack was in a determined mood.  He was no longer\nseated with the others.  He drew off a little and capered in a very\nconfident manner.  For the moment he was content to say nothing more to\nthe giant.  He had drawn his sword; and now he hopped about, cutting\nthe heads from tall grasses and tender twigs from the trees.\n\nYou would have said that his mind was very far away but for the fact\nthat he occasionally glanced at the others to see if this or that\nskilful pass had been witnessed; and occasionally he gazed at the giant\nin a very stern manner.\n\nAs for the giant, he spoke pleasantly to Everychild, asking him whither\nhe was bound; and when Everychild replied, quite simply, that he had\nset out in quest of Truth, the giant nodded his approval.\n\nIt was Everychild who introduced the subject of Jack and the threat he\nhad made.  \"Maybe he'll not do anything when he finds you're a good\ngiant,\" he said; \"and anyway, I suppose you'll know how to defend\nyourself--a big fellow like you?\"\n\nHe was greatly disturbed by the giant's reply.  \"I'm a big fellow,\nyes,\" said Will o'Dreams, \"and I can hold my own with other big\nfellows.  You know how to take them.  But when you're a giant it seems\nyou don't know how to take the little chaps.  I've always regarded Jack\nthe Giant Killer as a brave and honorable youth.  But some of the\nlittle fellows are hard to handle.  They're full of tricks and deceit.\nI've had many a tussle in my time; but when it comes to a fair test,\ngive me a man who's got honest strength--who's ashamed to do mean\ntricks.\"\n\nEverychild was considering this when he heard a voice behind him; and\nturning his head, he was surprised to perceive that the Masked Lady was\nstanding there, quite close to him, and that Mr. Literal was only a\nstep or two distant.  Mr. Literal held his note-book before him, and he\nhad just lifted his hand with a flourish, after putting a period after\nsomething he had written.  It was he who was speaking.\n\n\"It's all very well,\" said Mr. Literal to the Masked Lady, \"for him to\nbe making friends with that giant,\" and he nodded his head toward\nEverychild and his companion, \"but just the same, I could wish to see\nhim in better company.  Look at the giant's eyes.  Visionary eyes.\nVery little precise thinking going on back of a pair of eyes like that!\"\n\nThe Masked Lady replied quietly: \"It's only little creatures who\nconsider precision the first of all merits.  Let them alone.\"\n\nEverychild's attention was attracted then by Jack, whose manner had\nsuddenly changed and who now approached the giant with a mysterious\nsmile on his lips.\n\n\"You know,\" said Jack, \"I was only joking awhile ago when I spoke\nroughly to you.\"\n\n\"Ah, it's all right then,\" replied the giant in a tone of relief.\n\n\"Yes, I was only joking.  Just my way of getting acquainted.\"  And he\ncontinued to smile.\n\nPresently he added meditatively.  \"A big chap like you--it must be\nwonderful to be as strong as you are.  The way you ought to be able to\nhandle a sword--I suppose you carry a sword, of course?\"\n\n\"Nothing like it!\" replied the giant.\n\n\"You don't say so!  A terrible bludgeon then, no doubt?\"\n\n\"No.  You see, my taste doesn't run in that direction.  When I'm\nwishing for power or fame I think of . . . it's a little difficult to\nexplain.  Wings.  I wish for powerful big wings, so that time and space\ncouldn't hold me back.\"\n\n\"Wings!  That sounds funny!\" said Jack.  \"But a sling-shot, at\nleast--of course you carry a fine sling-shot around with you?\"\n\n\"No, nor a sling-shot.\"  The giant extended his arms with a candid\ngesture, so that Jack might see he was wholly unarmed.\n\nThen a very amazing thing happened.  Jack the Giant Killer suddenly\nuttered a cry of triumph.  \"Fool that you are!\" he exclaimed, \"to\nconfess that you are helpless!  Do you suppose we are deceived by your\nmake-believe friendliness?  Prepare to die!\"  And he lowered his sword\nwith a swift flourish.\n\nSo terrible was his manner that it seemed the giant was really lost.\nEvery one felt this.  Grettel clasped her hands tensely and a light at\nonce fearful and eager leaped into her eyes.  Hansel drew back as if to\nbe out of the way of danger.  The giant, pale yet unflinching, arose.\n\nIt was then that Everychild, springing to the side of the giant, cried\nout in a ringing tone--\n\n\"Stay!\"\n\nThe giant calmly lifted his hand and gazed into space; and at that\nmoment, from out the depths of the forest, came a commanding voice,\nexclaiming--\n\n\"Jack the Giant Killer!  Jack the Giant Killer!\"\n\nThe voice was distant, yet sonorous and stern.\n\nEverychild looked to see who it was that had spoken: and whom should he\nbehold emerging from the forest but Father Time!  He carried his scythe\nand sand-glass, and he moved forward with majesty, yet with haste.  He\nfixed his gaze upon Jack and uttered one more thrilling word--\"Stop!\"\n\nTo Everychild he seemed a changed person as he adjusted both his scythe\nand his sand-glass in his left hand and advanced with his right hand\nuplifted.  He seemed very stern.  His eyes traveled from one face to\nanother until at length they rested only on Jack.  Then upon the\nshoulder of Jack the Giant Killer his hand descended.\n\nEverychild could scarcely believe his own eyes for a moment or two.  A\ntragic change occurred in the youth who had been so splendid.\n\n_He had become old and infirm_!  His clothes were in tatters, his form\nwas bent, his sword was covered with rust.\n\nThen Jack--trembling and helpless--looked wonderingly and forlornly at\nFather Time.  \"What have you done to me?\" he asked in a quivering voice.\n\nFather Time replied calmly: \"I have laid my hand on your shoulder!\"\n\n\"Yes--but I don't mean that,\" said Jack.  \"Something strange . . . my\nboots: see, they have been changed.  They were new and wonderful.  In\nthem I could take steps seven leagues long!\"\n\nFather Time replied: \"Jack the Giant Killer, when I have laid my hand\nupon you again and yet again, you shall possess the true seven-league\nboots.  They shall carry you seventy times seven leagues--and beyond.\"\n\n\"And my invisible cloak--it was rich and fine before you came; and now\nit is ragged.\"\n\n\"Jack the Giant Killer, when I have laid my hand upon you again and yet\nagain, it shall be given to you to wear the true and only invisible\ncloak.\"\n\nJack looked ruefully at his sword.  With a sob he exclaimed, \"And my\nsword of sharpness! . . .\"\n\nFather Time replied, \"Jack the Giant Killer, beneath my touch the sword\nof sharpness becomes the sword of rust.\"\n\nFor an instant Jack searched the faces of the others.  \"Have I no\nfriend here?\" he demanded.  \"Will no one take my part?\"\n\nEverychild's heart was touched with pity; but before he could speak\nFather Time continued:\n\n\"I am your friend.  And I bid you go home and cultivate those virtues\nwhich you know not.  Be patient, and contentment shall come: a friend\nmore unfailing than a strong arm.  And hope shall come: a friend more\nfleet than seven-league boots.  And faith shall be yours: far better\nraiment than your cloak which was invisible.\"\n\nBut Jack hung his head.  \"And my beautiful sword that was my\npride . . .\"\n\nTo the amazement of all it was the giant, Will o'Dreams, who stepped\nforward to comfort Jack.  In a voice which was marvelously kind he said:\n\n\"I know you for a brave youth, Jack the Giant Killer; and as for me, it\nhas been said that I am generous.  Listen: I alone among all the race\nof giants have power to bid Father Time move speedily, or to retrace\nhis steps.  Let us see what I can do.\"\n\nHe solemnly lifted his hand, and Father Time, walking backward,\ndisappeared in the forest.\n\nAt that very moment the Masked Lady took a step forward, saying in a\nsoft and soothing voice:\n\n\"Jack the Giant Killer, if you will come to me with all your heart and\nplace your hand in mine, I can make you beautiful and strong, despite\nall that Father Time has done.\"\n\nJack lifted his troubled eyes to hers.  \"You?\" he asked.  And then he\ntried to approach her, but he had become too infirm.  \"I cannot!\" he\ncried despairingly.\n\nHe would have fallen, but the gentle hand of the giant, Will o'Dreams,\nwas instantly about him, supporting him.  \"Let me help,\" he said.\n\nEverychild's heart was beating loudly.  \"Let me help too!\" he cried.\n\"I have always been fond of Jack the Giant Killer.\"\n\nBetween these two, then, the infirm little old man, who had been the\ngay youth, moved totteringly toward the Masked Lady.  With a slow,\ntremulous gesture he placed his hand in hers, which was stretched out\nto him.\n\nA miracle!  He was instantly the brave and gallant youth again,\nseven-league boots, invisible cloak, sword of sharpness and all!\n\nHe lifted his sword with a great shout of joy.  And then, remembering\nhis manners, he said to the Masked Lady, \"I thank you, lady!\"  And to\nEverychild he said, \"They shall never be deceived who put their faith\nin you.\"  And to the giant, Will o'Dreams, he said, after a solemn\npause--\"It may be that you shall see me fight again; but when that day\ncomes, I shall be fighting on your side!\"\n\nAnd so he marched gallantly away into the forest.\n\nIt was then that Everychild observed that the night was falling.\n\"Perhaps we ought to sleep awhile,\" he said to his companions.  \"This\nseems a very nice place, and we may have to go a long distance\nto-morrow.\"\n\nThey all found places on the grassy bank, the giant Will o'Dreams lying\ndown beside Everychild like a true friend.\n\nThey had no sooner taken their places than it was really night.\nInsects in the forest about them made a droning sound.  A distant bell\nrang faintly.  One by one the members of the band fell asleep.\n\nAll save Everychild.  He alone was wakeful.  And he knew that the\nMasked Lady had taken a step forward and was looking down at him.\n\nHe lifted himself on his elbow and looked away toward the sky where it\nappeared through the trees.  And suddenly he exclaimed.  \"Oh,\nwonderful!  I think I saw a star fall!\"\n\nThe Masked Lady spoke to him soothingly: \"Perhaps.  They fall every\nlittle while.\"\n\nEverychild had not known this.  \"Do they?\" he asked; \"I wonder why?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady said, \"Perhaps it is so we may know that they don't\namount to very much, after all.\"\n\n\"Not amount to much!  But they are worlds, aren't they?\"\n\n\"Yes, they are worlds.\"\n\n\"Then if they don't amount to a great deal, is there anything that\ndoes?\"\n\n\"Nothing but human beings.\"\n\n\"Human beings . . . and why do they?\"\n\n\"Because every human being--even the most obscure or humble or\nwayward--is a little bit of God.\"\n\nEverychild pondered that.  It gave him a deep feeling of comfort.  He\ngazed away into the mysterious sky.  He mused, \"What a journey I shall\nhave to-morrow, with my new friend by my side.\"\n\nHe fell asleep repeating the words, \"A little bit of God--a little bit\nof God . . .\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE ADVENTURE OF WILL O'DREAMS\n\nScarcely had he fallen asleep when a stealthy figure emerged from the\ngloom of night and sought out the place where Will o'Dreams lay\nsleeping.  The stealthy figure proved to be none other than Mr.\nLiteral; and after he had stood looking down upon the sleeping band an\ninstant, he kicked the Giant's foot warily.\n\nThe giant was up in an instant.  His first thought was that his\nservices were needed.  There was no hint of resentment in his heart;\nand he proved his gentle qualities by moving carefully, so that the\nothers would not be disturbed.\n\nHe bent his head above Mr. Literal to hear what he had to say.\n\n\"Follow me!\" said Mr. Literal coldly; and without more ado he turned\nand led the way into the depths of the forest, the giant following him\nwonderingly.\n\nThey came before long to an old house with all the blinds drawn save at\none window, through which the beams of a lamp shone dimly.\n\nMr. Literal opened the front door, which creaked angrily.  He lighted a\nhall lamp so that he and the giant might find their way up a flight of\nstairs in safety.  A musty odor filled the giant's nostrils, causing\nhim to wrinkle his nose slightly.  But he said nothing.\n\nUp the stairway they proceeded, and into a study.  It was in this room\nthat a lamp had been left burning.\n\nMr. Literal approached a table and drew forth two chairs.  \"Sit down,\"\nhe said, still without looking at the giant.  And Will o'Dreams seated\nhimself in one of the chairs and waited for Mr. Literal to explain his\nsomewhat peculiar behavior.\n\nAs an immediate explanation did not seem to be forthcoming, he employed\nhis spare time in looking about the room.  There was dust everywhere,\nand frayed rugs and faded hangings.  But there were a number of busts\nwhich were really a delight to the eye: of Shakespeare, of Burns, of\nVictor Hugo, of Dickens and of others.  And there were book cases\nfilled to overflowing with books--all dust-covered, as if they had not\nbeen touched for years.\n\nMr. Literal took a seat at last; and for a moment there was silence in\nthe room and throughout the old house, save that a window rattled\nsomewhere in the night breezes.  Then Mr. Literal leaned forward\ndeliberately, his finger tips fitted together and his lips drawn into\nvery prim lines.  And at last he spoke.\n\n\"Listen to me, _Mr. Will o'Dreams_: I know you!\"  His tone was\ntriumphant, merciless.\n\nBut the giant only nodded politely and said, \"Very well, Mr. Literal;\nand I know you, too!\"\n\n\"At least,\" said Mr. Literal icily, \"I do not go about under an assumed\nname!\"\n\n\"Nor do I,\" replied the other.\n\n\"It is false!\" exclaimed Mr. Literal.  \"I know you too well.  You are\nthat evil creature, Imagination.\"\n\n\"I am sometimes called so,\" admitted the giant candidly.  \"The name has\na somewhat formidable sound.  I prefer to be known as Will\no'Dreams--that is all.\"\n\n\"You are trying to evade the truth,\" declared Mr. Literal.  \"Well do\nyou know that if you were to make your real name known, honest folk\nwould shun you.\"\n\nThe giant only waved his hand lightly.  \"I will not argue with you,\" he\nsaid.\n\n\"But I have something else to say to you,\" said Mr. Literal.  \"Your\nstatement to those children on the road--that was false too.\"\n\n\"What statement?\" inquired the giant, his brows lifting slightly.\n\n\"You informed them that you were looking for masterpieces; yet you know\nwell that your real purpose was to becloud the young minds of those\nchildren--to turn them from the quest of Truth.  Dare you deny this?\"\n\n\"I do indeed.  I assert again: I was looking for masterpieces.\"\n\n\"Masterpieces indeed!--in a forest!  _There_ are masterpieces\"--and he\npointed to the bookcases.  \"But you were not even looking for my house.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Masterpieces indeed!--in a forest!  _There_ are\nmasterpieces.\"]\n\n\"I was not thinking of books,\" admitted the giant.\n\n\"I grant, there are other kinds of masterpieces,\" said Mr. Literal;\n\"but they are not to be found in a forest.\"\n\n\"Ah, Mr. Literal!\" cried the giant.  \"I would that I might open your\neyes.  Believe me, the forest is filled with masterpieces of such\nperfection as the hand of man can never know.\"\n\n\"So--then name me one!\"\n\n\"The tiniest leaf that falls from its stem.  Not all the human race\ncould duplicate it.  The humblest plant.  The human eye has no power to\ntake in all its marvels.  And as for the trees--what has the world\nproduced that can match them?\"\n\nMr. Literal was flushing uncomfortably.  \"That is a large boast,\" he\nsaid.  \"The world has produced Karnac; it has produced the Petit\nTrianon, and St. Peter's and St. Paul's.\"\n\n\"But my dear sir,\" cried the giant warmly, \"cannot you see that the\nmost labored structure of man is crude and clumsy and artificial, when\ncompared with any tree in all the world?  Houses are dead, pathetic\nthings.  They begin to decay the moment they are built.  Rightly seen\nthey are hideous, save when they are considered in relation to some\nsimple human need.  They keep the wind and rain away--for which, God\nknows, we should be the better sometimes.  They have no beauty save the\nspirit of human striving that is within them--and that too often is a\ntarnished thing.  But a tree!  There are fairies under the trees,\ntruly!  True aspirations hover about them, and beautiful dreams.\"  He\nlowered his voice and said reverently, \"The Holy Spirit is all about\nthem.\"\n\n\"They are simply trees,\" said Mr. Literal harshly.\n\n\"Yes,\" agreed the giant, nodding and smiling, \"they are simply trees.\"\n\nBut Mr. Literal hitched his chair forward angrily.  \"We are talking\nnonsense,\" he declared.  \"It is your plan to divert me from my purpose.\nBut you shall not do so.  Listen: I forbid you to associate with those\ninnocent children.  You would corrupt them.  It shall be my duty to\nexpose you if you do not cease from following after them.  Do you hear?\"\n\nThe giant bowed his head thoughtfully.  \"You ask too much,\" he said.\n\"I know I have done evil in my time.  But I am repentant.  Come,\nbelieve me when I say that I would be only a friendly companion to\nthose children.  I would add to their innocent joys and take from their\nsorrows.  You do not know me, really.  I have no wish to offend you;\nbut I tell you you ask too much when you bid me turn aside from that\npleasant company.\"\n\nHe arose and turned toward the door.\n\n\"You are warned,\" said Mr. Literal.  \"Persist in your present course\nand I shall bring you to your knees.\"\n\n\"Abandon Everychild?\" said the giant musingly.  And he shook his head.\n\"No,\" he said.  Then, wishing to conciliate the old man, he looked\nabout him to where the busts reposed.  \"They are all friends of mine,\"\nhe said with a pleasant smile.\n\n\"They are all dead,\" said Mr. Literal coldly.\n\n\"What!--Shakespeare dead?\" cried the giant in amazement.  But he did\nnot remain for other words.  Mr. Literal was staring stupidly at\nnothing.  He went out into the hall and closed the door behind him.  He\nwould have descended the stairs then, but some one brushed against him\nlightly and whispered, \"Why do you waste your time in there?\"\n\n\"I went in against my will,\" said the giant.\n\nThe stranger said in glad tones, \"I know you well.\"\n\nThe giant replied, \"My name is Will o'Dreams.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" said the other.  \"My name is Will, too.  Though certain\nwell-meaning persons have always preferred to refer to me as William.\nI used to write plays, you know.\"\n\nThe giant gazed at him in the dim light.  \"Of course,\" he said.\n\n\"I used to live beside the Avon,\" said the other.\n\nThe giant's heart grew soft.  \"It is a beautiful stream,\" he said.\n\"And children play along its banks, just as in the old days, and men\nand women passing that way are the happier because you once dwelt\nthere.\"\n\nBut the other held up a cautioning finger.  His eyes twinkled\nmischievously in the dim light.  \"Not so loud,\" he said.  \"Old Mr.\nLiteral will hear you--and you know he doesn't know I am here!\"\n\nThey parted then; and the giant went back to his place where the\nchildren lay asleep.\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nARGUMENT: EVERYCHILD PITIES THE SORROWS OF CINDERELLA AND REJOICES IN\nHER RELEASE FROM BONDAGE; HE ENCOUNTERS A DOG THAT LOOKS UPON HIM WITH\nFAVOR.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nA PURSUIT IN THE DARK\n\nEverychild thought perhaps he had been asleep a long time when he was\nawakened by the sound of a clock in a distant tower striking the hour\nof 1.  He became quite wide awake.\n\nHe looked to his right and to his left.  Hansel and Grettel were on one\nside of him, sleeping deeply.  Hansel was even snoring.  The giant, on\nhis other side, lay motionless.\n\nHe looked to see if the Masked Lady had remained near him, but she was\nnowhere to be seen.  Mr. Literal also had disappeared.\n\nThen he sat up suddenly, his heart thumping loudly.  There was the\nsound of hurrying feet on the road nearby.  And there was something\nabout the sound . . . you could tell that it was some one who was lost,\nor in trouble.  Presently there was a sound of weeping too.\n\nEverychild sat with his hands clasped about his knees, staring at the\nroad: and before long, there she was--a girl running as if she were in\ngreat peril.  And as she drew nearer Everychild felt quite sure he knew\nwho the girl was.  He could not be sure how he knew.  But a name came\ninto his mind, and he said to himself, \"It is Cinderella.\"\n\nShe raced past him as if she were a leaf caught in the wind.  Again he\nheard her weeping.  And then, without at all knowing what he intended\nto do, he sprang to his feet and dashed down the road after her.  It\nwould be fine to speak to her, he thought.  And besides, it seemed\nalmost certain that she needed help.\n\nBut it was amazing how fast she could run.  He thought: \"That's the\nkind of a girl you would like to play with--a girl who can run like\nthat.\"\n\nStill, he hoped she would become tired before long, so that he might\novertake her.  After all, it was rather uncomfortable, pursuing her in\nthe dark.  His own feet made a fearful noise--a ghostly patter which\nawoke the night echoes.\n\nMoreover, certain wild creatures of the forest were disturbed.  An owl\ndashed from its branches overhead and went sailing down the avenues of\nthe forest.  A rabbit, sitting on a little hummock, dropped its\nforefeet to the ground and went prancing away, to wheel presently and\nlook at the road suspiciously.\n\n\"I'll never overtake her,\" thought Everychild.  He could just see her\nnow: a mere blur in the shadows far ahead of him.  He could no longer\nhear the sound of her feet.  Then quite suddenly she disappeared.\n\nHad she fallen?  Had she hidden behind a tree?  Was she afraid of him?\n\nHe ran more softly.  If she were hiding he must not frighten her.  If\nhe could only speak to her once she would know very well that she need\nnot fear him.\n\nBut when he came to the spot where she had disappeared he perceived\nimmediately that she had not hidden.  At this point a path turned away\nfrom the road, and it seemed clear that she had taken the path.\n\nThe path led into a deeper forest.  It became very silent and black.\nHe could barely see the path beneath his feet.  And it seemed to him\nthat he was now all surrounded by living, hidden creatures, who knew\nthat he was passing.  But he could not feel that Cinderella was\nanywhere near him.\n\nThe path turned into a lane, and the lane entered a region where there\nwere vague fields on either side, fields in which things had been\nplanted.  And then he stopped suddenly, not knowing whether he should\ncontinue on his way, or return to his companions by the side of the\nroad.  He had discerned a house before him, standing on the top of a\nhill.  And although it was very late, a single light burned in one of\nits windows.\n\nFor just a moment he reflected; and then he continued on his way, in\nthe direction of that lighted window.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCINDERELLA AT HOME\n\nFor just a few moments let us enter that house of the lighted window,\nthat we may witness certain strange happenings.\n\nWe come into an immense, old-fashioned kitchen or scullery.\n\nA candle burned on a mantel, sending its tranquil light out into the\nroom and creating ghostly shadows.  Under the mantel, in the deepest\nshadows of all, andirons and a crane seemed to be slinking back as if\nthey were hiding.\n\nIn the center of the room there was a rough wooden table.  Over against\nthe wall, near the door which opened to the highway, stood a\ngrandfather's clock, ticking severely, as if it were dissatisfied with\nthe way things were going in the house.  There were a number of other\ndoors visible, all closed as if they were saying, \"This is an orderly\nhouse, and everybody has gone to bed, of course!\"\n\nBut everybody hadn't gone to bed!  Over beyond the wooden table,\nagainst the wall, there was a bed, and there was nobody in it.\nMoreover, there was a figure seated at the wooden table: the figure of\na woman, who silently polished the spoons which were scattered before\nher.  She had already scoured certain pots and pans which were piled in\na heap near her hand.\n\nSuddenly the strange happenings began.\n\nA mouse appeared among the pots and pans on the table.  It sat an\ninstant, with alert eyes and fidgety nose and whiskers, and then it\nscrambled down the leg of the table and crossed the floor in the\ndirection of the grandfather's clock.  An instant later there it was\nagain, climbing up the white face of the clock!\n\nThe clock ticked more severely than ever.  The mouse disappeared amid\nthe works of the clock: and presto!  The clock loudly struck one.\n\nThe mouse darted into sight again, slipping down across the face of the\nclock.  Then it disappeared.\n\nThe vibrations of the clock, filling the room as with a great clamor,\nslowly died away.\n\nThen there was another sound: a nervous rattling of the latch on the\ndoor opening to the highway.  The door opened rather abruptly, and\nCinderella, panting and pale, stood on the threshold.\n\nFor an instant she seemed afraid to enter; yet plainly she was also\nafraid to remain standing there on the threshold.  She glanced swiftly\nabout the room and then she entered and closed the door sharply behind\nher.  She stood for a moment, panting and leaning against the door.\n\nThere was something very strange about her; for although she was weary\nand frightened, and clad in the shabbiest old dress imaginable, her\nface nevertheless shone with rapture.\n\nNeed I tell you what had occurred to her?  She had forgotten what the\ngood fairy had told her about coming home before one o'clock; and as a\nresult her coach-and-four and her coachman had been changed back to\nwhat they had originally been: a pumpkin, a rat, and four mice.  What a\ndisaster!\n\nYet after she had stood against the door long enough to catch her\nbreath she advanced into the room, thrusting her arms upward and\nforward as if she were embracing a lovely vision.  Her eyes burned with\na glorious light.\n\nShe had not seen the figure at the table, bending over the spoons.  It\nwas plain that in imagination she was seeing something far different.\nAnd then she uttered these words (to nobody at all!):\n\n\"Oh, the wonder of it, the wonder of it!\"\n\nThen something else happened.  One of the inner doors opened and a\nyoung lady stood craning her neck so that she could look into the room.\nShe stood so an instant, and then she was joined by another young lady,\nand both came into the room.\n\nThey were both simply glorious in party-frocks, though on the skirt of\none the ruffles had been bunched clumsily, and the bodice of the other\nwas slightly twisted.\n\nThey were Cinderella's sisters.\n\nThe first sister had opened the door just in time to hear what\nCinderella said; and now she rather cleverly imitated Cinderella's\nwords and manner--\n\n\"'Oh, the wonder of it!'  The wonder of what?\"\n\nFor a moment longer Cinderella gazed into space, her eyes holding a\nglorious vision.  Then, lowering her gaze and observing her sisters,\nshe said, a little less fervently, \"Oh . . . everything!\"\n\nThe second sister now spoke.  There was a pitying note in her voice as\nshe said to the first sister, \"_As if she had the slightest idea of\nanything as wonderful as the things we've seen!_\"\n\nTo which the first sister replied with a sigh--\"Poor Cinderella!\"\n\nBut Cinderella only turned away from them that she might hide the\nsecret in her eyes.  She sat down before the fireplace, and the two\nsisters seated themselves on either side of her.  None of them had\ntaken the slightest notice of the figure at the wooden table in the\nmiddle of the room.\n\nCinderella seemed to be dreaming again, while the two sisters were\nplainly overflowing with excitement.  They glanced at each other across\nCinderella as if to say, \"Shall we tell her?\"  And each nodded eagerly\nto the other.\n\nThen said the second sister: \"It is we who have seen the truly\nwonderful things, Cinderella.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Cinderella dreamily, \"I know.\"\n\nSaid the first sister: \"But you don't know--not the half.  You know\nwe've been to the ball, but you don't know what happened there.\"\n\nCinderella leaned forward, resting her cheeks in her hands.  Her\nsisters could not see her eyes.  \"Tell me what happened,\" she said.\n\n\"The most wonderful princess came to the ball,\" said the first sister.\n\"Quite a stranger--not a soul knew her.  She was a sensation.\"\n\nThe second sister could scarcely wait to add, \"The loveliest creature\never seen!\"\n\nCinderella looked at her sisters now, one after the other.  Her eyes\nseemed to caress them.  \"Ah, tell me about her,\" she said.\n\nSaid the first sister: \"She first came last night--and then again\nto-night.  She came late, from nobody knew where in an equipage the\nlike of which was never seen before.  She came late and left early.\"\n\nCinderella forgot herself a little.  \"Yes, I know,\" she said, \"but\nwhere----\"\n\n\"How should _you_ know?\" demanded the second sister sharply.\n\nCinderella hastened to say, \"I mean--tell me more about her.\"\n\nIt was the first sister's turn to speak.  \"We could never describe\nher,\" she said.  \"Her eyes--they were like certain bright flowers\nshining in the dusk . . .\"\n\n\"Oh, were they!\" cried Cinderella softly.\n\nAnd now the second sister said, \"And her form--it was like a young\npoplar tree in the wind . . .\"\n\n\"Oh, how good of you to tell me!\" cried Cinderella.\n\nThe first sister could scarcely wait to say, \"And her dress--it was\nlike dew on the grass!\"\n\nCinderella brought her hands together with rapture.  \"Was it truly?\"\nshe asked.\n\n\"Quite like it,\" said the first sister.  \"And her hair and cheeks--they\nwere--they were like yours, poor Cinderella, only of course much more\nbeautiful!\"\n\nCinderella's hands were still clasped.  \"Oh, much more beautiful, I\nknow!\" she murmured softly.\n\nThen a silence fell upon all the sisters.  Cinderella clasped her hands\nabout her knees and gazed dreamily into the fireplace.  Her sisters\nstole pitying glances at her.  They noted her wretched dress, and\ngentle regret shone in their eyes.\n\nAt length the first sister said generously, \"You know, Cinderella, we\nshould be very glad to have you go places with us and have a good time,\ntoo, if mother----\"\n\nBut the second sister interrupted dutifully, \"If it were the custom for\nthe younger sister to be treated like the older sisters.\"\n\nCinderella nodded, \"I know it is a custom--that's all,\" she said.\n\"Maybe my turn will come when you've both got good husbands and fine\nestablishments of your own.\"\n\nThe two sisters arose.  The first began to yawn loudly; but remembering\nher manners she patted her lips with her finger tips, changing the yawn\ninto a smile.  She advanced toward the door by which she had entered.\nThe second sister made as if to follow her, but turned for a final word.\n\n\"It's lovely of you not to be jealous of us, Cinderella,\" she said.  \"I\nhope your turn will come, too.  Good-night.\"\n\nCinderella had already relapsed into her dreamy mood.  \"Good-night,\"\nshe called.  And she continued to sit and gaze into the fireplace.\n\nBut suddenly she started up excitedly and turned about.  She fixed her\ngaze upon the door opening to the highway.  Her left hand moved\nunconsciously to her heart.\n\nSome one was timidly knocking on the door!\n\nShe stood for a moment as if to make sure that she had not dreamed that\nsome one had knocked.  It was very late, and the house was in a lonely\nspot.  Then she advanced, marveling yet unafraid, and removed the bar\nfrom before the door.\n\nThe door opened quietly and Everychild stood on the threshold.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nCINDERELLA'S DECISION\n\nEverychild's eyes beamed with delight.  \"Then you _did_ come to this\nhouse,\" he said.  \"I thought you did; but you ran so fast--I couldn't\nbe sure where you went.\"  It is true that he was breathing quickly, but\nhe was perfectly happy.\n\nCinderella stood regarding him, two finger tips pressed against her\ncheek.  \"Have I--have I ever met you before?\" she asked wonderingly.\n\nHe did not really reply to this.  \"I was beside the road with my\ncompanions,\" he said.  \"We were lying down.  I saw you hurry by.  I\ncould tell something was the matter.  I followed you.  I hope you don't\nmind!\"\n\nShe regarded him dubiously.  \"You look like a very nice boy,\" she said.\n\"But it's fearfully late for you to be out or for me to ask you to come\nin.  Still----\"\n\n\"Please let me come in,\" pleaded Everychild.  \"There's something I want\nvery much to ask you.\"\n\nAfter a pause she said, \"Well, yes, you may come in.\"  She stood aside,\nwatching him with a whimsical smile as he advanced into the room.\n\nHe stopped in surprise when he saw the figure at the table, bending\nover the spoons.  It was the Masked Lady.  She had put aside her\nshepherdess's crook and had become a house-servant.  But he was so full\nof the thought of Cinderella that he paid little heed to the Masked\nLady.\n\nHe sat down in one of the chairs the sisters had occupied; and when\nCinderella followed and sat down by him he gazed at her intently.\n\n\"Tell me--what was it you wished to know?\" asked Cinderella.\n\nHe had trouble finding the right words; but at length he began, \"Your\nmother--does she whip you?  You know, you were running so, and you\nseemed so frightened . . .\"\n\nCinderella looked beyond him.  She seemed to speak to herself rather\nthan to Everychild.  \"She doesn't whip me,\" she said.  \"If it were only\nbeing whipped I shouldn't mind so much.  A whipping . . . it's soon\nover and little harm done.  No, she doesn't whip me.\"\n\n\"Or perhaps she tries to lose you,\" said Everychild.  \"You were really\nin a dreadful state, you know, as you came running along the road.\"\n\nBut Cinderella continued to speak musingly, as if to herself.  \"She\ndoesn't whip me.  But to know that you're never to be praised or loved;\nto have your mother look at you coldly, and say nothing--or just to\nhave her pay no attention at all, but to act as if a wrong had been\ndone her somehow . . . a whipping would be easy, compared with that.\"\n\nEverychild took her up with swift comprehension.  \"I know what you\nmean,\" he declared.  \"Not to have them listen when you speak, as if you\nwere in the way . . .\"\n\nCinderella gazed at him darkly.  \"Child, what do you know of such\nthings?\" she demanded.\n\nEverychild answered simply, \"Our mothers were like that too.  I know\nwhat it means.\"\n\nCinderella said, \"Your mothers?\"\n\n\"First it was just me,\" explained Everychild.  \"And then it was Hansel\nand Grettel.\"\n\n\"Ah, those poor children!\" exclaimed Cinderella.  \"I've heard how their\nparents took them out into the woods to lose them.  I'm surprised they\never went back.\"\n\n\"They're not going back again.  They're going with me.  With me and the\ngiant and----\"\n\n\"But where?\" interrupted Cinderella.\n\n\"And you shall go with us,\" concluded Everychild.  \"That's what I\nwanted to tell you.  We're going to find the truth.\"\n\nBut this only brought a sad smile to Cinderella's lips.  \"Ah,\" she\nsaid, \"I wonder if it would be really wise to do that.  Sometimes I\nthink our hearts never break until we know the whole truth.\"\n\nEverychild could not understand this; and he was relieved when the\nMasked Lady spoke.  She was still polishing spoons slowly.  Now she\nsaid, without looking up, \"Our hearts break when we know only half the\ntruth.  They are healed when all the truth is known.\"\n\n\"Come, it will be great to have you go too,\" declared Everychild\nurgently.\n\nCinderella slowly relaxed in her chair.  She rested her chin in her\npalm and gazed at the floor.  Her eyes presently took in the fact that\nshe had lost a slipper.\n\n\"I don't see how I could manage it,\" she said.  \"I seem to have lost a\nslipper.  One of the pretty glass ones.  But there, you don't know\nabout that.\"  She aroused herself and began looking about for her old\nslippers.  She looked here and there.  She found them at last under the\nbed.  She took them into her hands and turned them over and over,\nregarding them sadly.  Then without seeming cause she started guiltily\nand fixed her gaze on the door through which her sisters had made their\nentrance and exit.\n\n\"Some one is coming!\" she whispered excitedly,\n\nEverychild sprang to his feet.\n\n\"It's my mother, I think,\" added Cinderella.  \"I'm afraid there'll be\ntrouble.  Please run away.  No, I don't think I could go with you,\nafter all.\"\n\nEverychild stood undecided an instant; and then he could see the inner\ndoor opening.  He would have run away, then, but it was too late; and\nCinderella seized him by the arm.  It was plain that she was trying to\nthink of a place where he might hide.\n\nHe knew what to do in a second.  He dropped to the floor and rolled\nunder Cinderella's bed!  From his hiding-place under the bed he saw the\ndoor open wide and a very pompous-appearing matron enter the room.\n\nThis was Cinderella's mother, who began immediately, in a rage:\n\n\"So, my fine girl, you are here ahead of me!\"\n\nCinderella bowed her head.  \"I am here, mother,\" she said in a low\nvoice.\n\n\"Without your fine clothes, I see!\"\n\n\"My fine clothes, mother?\" said Cinderella, with downcast eyes.\n\n\"None of that, my lass!  A mother's eyes are not deceived.  I knew it\nwas you!  All those jewels and silks, finer than your poor dear sisters\ncan afford to wear, did not deceive me.  And the prince dancing with\nyou shamelessly while your poor sisters sat by as if they had wooden\nlegs . . . did you suppose for an instant you could deceive me?\"\n\nOf course Cinderella knew she had been found out.  She replied in a\ntone of sad resignation: \"I could scarcely have expected to deceive\nyou, mother.  I've had so little experience in doing so.  You know I've\nalways been obedient--always before.  Deceit isn't easy.  I had only\nchanged my dress, after all, while you had put on a gracious\nmanner--and yet I knew you instantly.\"\n\n\"Precisely . . .  _What_?  Oh, you shall pay for that!\"\n\nThe angry creature looked about for some means of inflicting a cruel\npunishment, and her eyes came upon a closet door.  \"Come, to bed with\nyou!\" she exclaimed.  \"In the closet!  It will do very well for such as\nyou.  I'll have you under lock and key to-night, and to-morrow I'll\nlook into your case, you impudent, disobedient wretch!\"\n\nSeeing what her mother's intention was, Cinderella cried in a mournful\ntone, \"Oh, mother!\"\n\nBut her mother stamped her foot violently.  \"In with you!\" she cried.\nWhereupon she removed a key from its peg on the wall and unlocked the\ncloset door.  With one movement she forced Cinderella into the closet.\nThen she locked the door and replaced the key on its peg.\n\n\"Unless the child is a witch in disguise--which I shouldn't put apast\nher, for how else should she get the silks and jewels she wore\nto-night?--she'll not be able to show her face again until I come to\nlet her out.  I _wore a gracious manner_, did I?--and she knew me\ninstantly in spite of it!  There's a dutiful child for you.  A dutiful\nchild?  A shameless hussy!\"\n\nAnd the furious creature blew out the candle on the mantel and left the\nroom.  You could hear her slam the door.\n\nA faint cry of distress came from the locked closet: \"Mother--mother!\"\n\nIn the darkness Everychild's voice could be heard speaking cautiously,\n\"Wait, Cinderella--wait until I can make a light.\"\n\nThe voice from the closet was heard again: \"Mother--mother!\"\n\nAnd then Everychild's voice: \"I must make a light, so that I can find\nthe key!\"\n\nFor the last time Cinderella's voice could be heard faintly--\"Mother!\"\n\nAnd then there was the calm voice of the Masked Lady: \"Now you can see!\"\n\nThe room was lighted again!  The Masked Lady had arisen from her place.\nShe was holding the lighted candle above her head.\n\nNot a second was wasted by Everychild.  He hurriedly crossed the room\nand took the key from its peg.  He unlocked the closet door.\n\nCinderella thrust the door open and burst into the room.\n\n\"I couldn't leave you there, you know,\" said Everychild.\n\nCinderella regarded him intently.  \"You could not leave me there--no,\"\nshe said; \"and you shall not leave me in this house, where I meet only\nindignities and abuse.  Come, I am going with you.\"\n\nNot another word was needed.  Hand in hand they approached the outer\ndoor.  For a moment Everychild disengaged his hand to remove the bar\nfrom before the door.  He opened the door, and then hand in hand they\npassed the threshold.\n\nAs if she were moving quite absent-mindedly the Masked Lady went and\nclosed the door behind them.  She put the bar back in its place.  She\npondered a moment and then she re-locked the closet door, replacing the\nkey on its wooden peg.\n\nThere was a sound of footsteps approaching; and instantly the light\nwent out, though the Masked Lady had not blown upon it.\n\nPitch darkness for a moment, then the flash of a light.  The mother of\nCinderella was standing near the mantel, lighting the candle, which was\nback in its place again.  The Masked Lady was seated by the wooden\ntable, polishing spoons.\n\n\"I thought I heard a voice!\" mused the mother of Cinderella.\n\nShe inspected the outer door.  The bar was in its place.  She looked at\nthe closet door.  It was locked.  The key was on its peg.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nSOME ONE PASSES WITH A SONG ON THE ROAD OF TROUBLED CHILDREN\n\nThe sun came up and filled the woodland with patches of gold.  Birds\nbegan to sing.  The forest was awake.\n\nThe children began to awaken, one after another: Hansel, first.  He got\nup and rubbed his eyes morosely and said, \"I'm hungry as a wolf!\"\n\nHis movements aroused Grettel.  She said, \"No wonder, Hansel.  We\nreally must have something to eat.\"\n\nThen Everychild stirred; and then Cinderella, who was lying by his\nside.  Next, the giant, Will o'Dreams, sprang to his feet and viewed\nthe sun-patches far and near, and lifted his arms in delight.  For the\nmoment he quite forgot the threat which Mr. Literal had made against\nhim.  He was perfectly happy.\n\nThey all went a little distance and found a brook, where they washed\ntheir faces and quenched their thirst.  Then Everychild remarked, \"We\nought to have breakfast.\"\n\nHansel looked at him almost contemptuously.  \"Ought we, indeed!\" he\nexclaimed.  \"And I suppose you know where we're going to get it?\"\n\n\"We must think,\" said Everychild.\n\nAnd at that very moment there was the sound of some one coming along\nthe road, singing.  They all looked to see who it was.\n\n\"Aladdin!\" exclaimed Everychild excitedly.\n\nIt was indeed Aladdin.  His pigtail hung down adorably and his rosy\nmouth expressed nothing but happiness.  He was singing--\n\n\"Tla-la-la . . . tla-la-la . . .\"\n\nHe perceived the children standing in a row, gazing at him.  He stopped\nshort.  His song ended.  He stood there smiling.\n\n\"Good morning!\" said Everychild.  He added in a voice which faltered\njust enough to make his question seem in good taste, \"Have you got your\nlamp?\"\n\nAladdin moved a little, so that they might all see his lamp.  He held\nit aloft and looked at it, and then at Everychild.\n\n\"And so you haven't been able to think of the best thing of all?\" asked\nEverychild.\n\n\"Alas, no,\" replied Aladdin, his eyes suddenly becoming somber.\n\nEverychild thought again, as he had done before, how strange it was\nthat Aladdin should wish to be rid of his lamp.  But he thought it best\nto speak cheerfully.  \"We were just wishing for breakfast,\" he said.\n\"But of course it didn't do any good, because we hadn't any lamp.\"\n\nAladdin's eyes began to twinkle again.  \"What did you wish for\nbreakfast?\" he asked.\n\nHansel made haste to say, \"Sausages--and plenty of them!\"\n\nGrettel reflected and said: \"Eggs.  Some nice poached eggs.\"\n\nThey all looked at Cinderella, who hesitated and then said\nreluctantly--\"If I could just have a little marmalade and seed-cake----\"\n\nThe giant said nothing at all; and at last Everychild spoke: \"I'm not\nparticular,\" he said.  \"Just anything that happens to be convenient.\"\n\nThis response pleased Aladdin best of all.  He said, \"Well, I'll wish\nfor you.\"  He pushed his soft loose sleeves back and held his lamp up.\nHe rubbed it in a certain fashion, and sure enough a great genie\nappeared.\n\n\"If you'd just kindly prepare something nice for breakfast,\" said\nAladdin to the genie courteously.  And the genie made a salaam which\ndelighted Grettel particularly, and then he began to pluck things out\nof the air--just as the magician in the theater does: a small stove\nfrom which a blue flame arose; a sauce-pan; a nice table covered with a\nwhite cloth; plates and knives and forks--everything.  He placed a\nwhite cap on his head and held the sauce-pan over the blue flame.  He\nkept smiling mischievously all the while; and at last he carried the\nsauce-pan to the table and poured something into every dish.  Then he\nmade another salaam, and that was all there was to him.\n\nThe children all eagerly took their places.  They looked excitedly to\nsee what the genie had prepared for them.\n\nIt was bread and milk in every case.\n\nThey all shouted gleefully because of the trick the genie had played on\nthem.  Then they looked about for Aladdin, who for the moment was\nnowhere to be seen.\n\nFar down the road they heard him singing as he went on his way.  His\nvoice was faint and musical--\n\n\"Tla-la-la . . . tla-la-la . . .\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nEVERYCHILD BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH A POOR DOG\n\nAfter they had finished their breakfast they all decided it would be a\nwise plan to have a serious talk among themselves, so that they might\nagree upon their plans for the future.\n\n\"We ought to know just what we want to do,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"And how we're going to do it,\" said Cinderella.\n\nSaid Hansel: \"I'm for keeping right ahead on this road, so we'll\novertake that boy with the lamp.\"\n\nGrettel could not think of a suggestion, and she contented herself with\nsaying in a critical tone, \"Oh, Hansel!\"\n\n\"It might be that we ought to find some other road,\" said Everychild.\n\"You know this is called the Road of Troubled Children.\"\n\n\"I am told,\" said the giant, speaking for the first time, \"that if you\nwatch for the guide-posts it presently turns into the Road of Happy\nChildren.\"\n\nA harsh voice behind them exclaimed.  \"It is false!\"  And turning his\nhead, the giant beheld Mr. Literal glowering down upon him from behind.\nHowever, he paid not the slightest attention.\n\n\"Anyway,\" said Everychild, \"it doesn't matter so much what road we take\nif we only find the truth at the end.  We mustn't forget that's what\nwe're looking for.\"\n\n\"You'll find that in a book,\" declared the harsh voice of Mr. Literal.\n\n\"I think we'll find it, no matter what road we take,\" said the giant.\n\n\"You'll find it in your hearts,\" another voice was heard to say.  And\nnow it was to be noted that the Masked Lady had also appeared.\n\n\"And when we find it,\" said Cinderella, \"--then what shall we do?\"\n\n\"When we find it we shall know what to do,\" said the giant.\n\n\"When you find it you'll be prepared to die,\" declared Mr. Literal.\n\n\"When they find it they shall be prepared to live,\" the voice of the\nMasked Lady was heard to say.\n\nA laugh like the crackling of dry fagots was heard; and Mr. Literal\nexclaimed musingly: \"The little simpletons!  They seek to find the\ntruth at their age!  Little do they know that I have spent my whole\nlife anxiously seeking it!\"\n\nThe Masked Lady said softly: \"It is found by those who have ceased to\nseek it anxiously.\"\n\nThen the members of the band sat in silence for a time, each trying to\ndecide what the truth would mean.  Hansel was thinking that it would\nmean the secret of getting something to eat at every hour of the day\nand night.  Cinderella decided it would mean a way of finding the\nprince who had danced with her at the ball.  And Everychild got no\nfurther than the decision that it would mean something that would make\nevery day perfectly delightful.\n\nIn the meantime the forest had become glorious with the heat and light\nof the ascending sun.  The waking noises of the birds had given place\nto the business of being boldly active.  And the children, with a\ncommon impulse, would have resumed their journey.  But just at that\nmoment a traveler was seen to be approaching.\n\nIt was Everychild who went forward to salute the traveler, who proved\nto be a boy with hanging head and lagging feet.  His hands were thrust\ninto his pockets and there were tear-stains on his cheeks.\n\n\"Good morning,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"Don't bother me,\" said the boy.  \"I'm running away.\"\n\n\"I didn't see you run,\" said Everychild.\n\nThe boy stopped and looked at Everychild reproachfully.  \"It's called\nrunning away,\" he said; \"though everybody knows you don't run, and for\nthat matter, there's no _away_ about it.  Mostly you turn around and go\nback.  But I call it running away just the same.  It takes a load off\nmy mind.\"\n\n\"I know how it is,\" declared Everychild.  \"My friends and I have taken\nto the road, too; and if you like, you may join us.\"\n\nThe boy thought this over a moment; and at length he said, \"I'll do it.\nI'll not get any further away, being with others, and it'll not be any\nharder to go back, when I weaken.  I'm ready to join you now, only it\nmight look better if I just drop in on my mother for a minute to tell\nher good-by.\"\n\nIf seemed to Everychild that perhaps this would be a wise thing to do.\n\"And shall we wait for you?\" he asked.\n\n\"You might just go along with me, if the others will wait, to make sure\nthere isn't any foul play.\"\n\nTo this plan Everychild readily agreed; and after he had explained the\nsituation to his companions, he set off with the new boy along a path\nwhich branched off from the road.\n\n\"My name is Tom,\" explained the boy.  \"Tom Hubbard.\"  And after that\nthey continued their way in silence.\n\nThey arrived, after no great journey, at a very prim little house, set\ndown in a very prim little garden.  Curtains hung in the windows just\nso, and the door-knob shone like gold.  The only friendly thing about\nthe place was a little black dog with a rough coat and great wistful\neyes, which came running down the walk to leap up before the boy Tom,\ntrying to lick his hands.\n\nThey entered the house, and the instant Everychild crossed the\nthreshold he realized that he had never seen a house quite like this\none.  It made you think of a very careful drawing.  Everything was at\nright angles with everything else.  A small table stood precisely in\nthe middle of the floor, and two really silly little chairs were placed\nbefore it.  A spick-and-span cupboard, with a perforated tin front,\nstood over against the wall.\n\nThe little black dog ran over to the cupboard immediately and stood on\nhis hind legs, gazing at the perforated doors.\n\n\"We'd better sit on the floor.\" said Tom, after he had glanced uneasily\nabout the room.\n\nThis seemed a bit strange to Everychild, but he said politely, \"I'm\nvery fond of sitting on the floor myself.\"\n\nAnd so they sat down on the floor and clasped their hands about their\nknees.\n\n\"And so this is where you live!\" said Everychild, looking about him\nwith frank interest.\n\n\"It is where I _did_ live.  I'll live here no more, now that I've found\nsomebody to run away with.  When she comes in--my mother, I mean--I'll\njust say good-by and light out.\"\n\n\"What's been the matter?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"It's no fit place for a boy to live,\" said Tom.  \"In the first place,\nnobody's ever home.  Mother's always gadding about somewhere.  She\ngives lectures on _The Home_, and she's never here except between\nlectures.  And even then her mind is somewhere else.  You don't dare to\nspeak to her.  She stares at nothing--so.  And all she says is, 'For\ngoodness' sake, don't shout so;' or '_Must_ you make that noise when\nyou're eating?' or 'Can't you walk without shaking the floor like\nthat?' and finally, 'I think you'll drive me insane at last--such a\ncareless creature you are!'\"\n\n\"It must be very bad,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"I've been so I was afraid to move, knowing she would complain.  I've\nsat for hours studying her, trying to understand her.  I used to think\nthe fault was all mine.\"\n\n\"It does make you feel that way, doesn't it?\" said Everychild.  \"And\nsometimes I've thought fathers were as bad as mothers about making you\nfeel so.\"\n\nTom lapsed into a dreamy mood.  \"Fathers . . .  I don't remember much\nabout my father,\" he said.  \"But he used to be uncomfortable about the\nhouse the same as me.  The things she says to me--they come easy to her\nnow, because she learned to say them long ago, to my father.  He\ncouldn't have a friend in to see him.  It was always: 'Why don't they\ngo home for their meals?' or 'Why don't they track dirt into their own\nhouses?' or 'Why don't they fill their own curtains with tobacco\nsmoke?'  You know how they talk.  And he quit bringing his friends\nhome.  He stayed away more and more himself.  I've not seen him now for\nyears.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure I ever heard of your father,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"You wouldn't have heard of him.  Mother always made so much noise that\nyou only heard of her.  You wouldn't have overlooked _her_, with her\nfinding fault all the time, and pretending not to be appreciated at\nhome.  She was always pitied by the neighbors, who knew only her side\nof the story.  Oh, everybody's heard of Old Mother Hubbard.  But who\never heard of Old Father Hubbard?  She drove him away with her precise\nlittle ways, and now he's forgotten.\"\n\nEverychild could scarcely conceal his surprise.  He hadn't supposed it\nwas _that_ Hubbard.  \"And so this is where Old Mother Hubbard lives,\"\nhe said, looking about him with new interest.\n\n\"It's where you'll find her at odd times,\" said Tom, \"when she hasn't\ngot a committee meeting to attend, or a board meeting, or a convention,\nor something.  I shouldn't say she _lives_ anywhere.\"\n\n\"Still, everything is nice enough in its way,\" remarked Everychild,\n\"and I always thought she was very poor.\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" said Tom.  \"It was her 'poor dog.'  That's what you have\nin mind, I suppose.  And there never was a poor dog except one with a\nmean master or mistress.\"\n\nAt that moment, the little black dog, weary of looking at the cupboard,\napproached Tom and flopped down beside him.\n\n\"And that's her dog,\" said Everychild musingly.\n\n\"He's mine, really,\" explained Tom, \"though I always try to think of\nhim as hers.  You take a fellow like me and he'd rather not own a dog.\nHe has to go out into the world sooner or later; and if he has a dog he\nkeeps thinking about him when he's away, and about there not being any\none to put water in his bowl, and open the gate for him or go with him\nfor a run.  A dog likes to be with you, you know; and when you're gone\nyou keep seeing him all the while: waiting at the gate for you, or\noutside your door.  And you know all the time that some day when you're\ngone he'll grow old at last, and lie alone dreaming of you, and\nlooking--while there's none but strangers by to spurn him.  No,\nsometimes I think it's better not to have a dog for a friend.\"\n\nEverychild was thinking about this when Tom suddenly reached for his\nhat, which he had placed by his side.  \"Perhaps we'd better be getting\nalong,\" he said, \"without waiting to tell her good-by.  After all,\nthere's no telling when she'll be here.\"\n\nEverychild did not like to go without having seen Old Mother Hubbard;\nbut there seemed no way to suggest this, and he was just rising to his\nfeet when there was a bustling sound outside the door.\n\n\"She's coming now,\" said Tom in a whisper.  \"She'll be here right\naway.\"  He was dreadfully uneasy.  He added in a tone of apology, \"Just\nmake the best of it, won't you, if she's ugly?  It will blow over in a\nminute or two.\"\n\nAnd then the front door was opened briskly and Old Mother Hubbard\nentered the room.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nA TERRIBLE LADY AT HOME\n\nShe came into the room in the manner of one who was about to say,\n\"Fellow-citizens!\"  But she said nothing just at first.  She took a few\nsteps further, walking as if she expected to have a badge pinned on\nher, or to receive a prize.  She had a double chin; and when she began\nto speak, which she did a moment later, it developed that she had a\ndeep baritone voice.\n\nHer first words were: \"Away with you!\"\n\nThey were for the little black dog, who had rushed toward her with\nswaying tail.\n\nThen she saw her son and Everychild.  _She sniffed as if there were a\nfire somewhere as she said to her son, \"And who is this, pray?\"_\n\n[Illustration: She sniffed as if there were a fire somewhere.]\n\nEverychild would have felt almost alarmed but for the fact that\nsomething extraordinary occurred just then.  The Masked Lady entered\nthe room and stood just inside the door.  Still more remarkable, Mr.\nLiteral appeared just behind her.\n\n\"This,\" replied Tom to his mother, \"is--is a boy who came home with me.\"\n\n\"Is it, indeed!\" exclaimed Old Mother Hubbard icily.  She added, \"What\nI meant to inquire was.  What is his name?\"\n\nTom was blushing.  \"His name is Everychild, mother,\" he said, \"and\nhe's----\"\n\nOld Mother Hubbard had removed her bonnet, which was a little affair of\nblack velvet and jet ornaments.  She touched her hair with her finger\ntips here and there.  \"I might have known as much!\" she said.\n\"Everychild!  And I suppose you think it is quite right for Everychild\nto come tagging home after you, making work for other people?\"\n\nTom cried out forlornly, \"Oh, mother . . .\"\n\nAs for Everychild, he was thinking--\"She'll never let him go!\"  He was\nstanding with one foot on top of the other in a very uncomfortable\nmanner.  Still, he was trying to smile, as if to convey the idea that\nOld Mother Hubbard must be joking, of course.\n\nBut the old lady continued severely: \"I've warned you before.  You\nought to know by this time that a house is a--a house.\"\n\nHere Everychild managed to say, \"I'll not be a bit of trouble, Mother\nHubbard, and--and I'm very glad to meet you.\"\n\nShe stared at him as if she were really seeing him for the first time.\nBut her temper broke forth again.  \"Don't tell me!\" she exclaimed.  \"I\nknow what boys are.  You'll not deny, I suppose, that you get\nravenously hungry three times a day?\"\n\nEverychild was so amazed by this that he looked helplessly at Tom.\n\n\"Precisely!\" continued Old Mother Hubbard.  \"Well, you should have\nheard our President's address yesterday afternoon on _The Superfluous\nTable_.\"\n\nHer son interrupted in great embarrassment, \"Oh, mother, he doesn't\neven know what you mean!\"\n\n\"Per'aps not.  You've not told him, then, that your mother is\nVice-President of the Mother Goose Auxiliary of the Amalgamated\nAssociations of Notable Ladies?\"\n\n\"No, mother,\" said Tom, bending his head in shame.\n\n\"Well, at all events . . . the President went on to say that the dinner\ntable was a relic of barbarism.  And she was quite right.  She cited\ncases known to all we ladies . . .\"\n\nMr. Literal, from his place in the background, could not help saying to\nthe Masked Lady, \"Why is it that ladies with baritone voices _always_\nhave trouble with their objective case?\"\n\nBut the Masked Lady did not reply, and Old Mother Hubbard continued:\n\"There was the case of Mrs. Horner's son--her dear, dutiful little\nJack.  When he ate his Christmas pie, where was he sitting?  _In a\ncorner_!  No dinner table there to cause a lot of work and worry.  And\nplease note that he was delighted when he _pulled out a plum_.  Yet the\nplum is one of the simplest forms of--of sustenance.  And there was\nMiss Muffet, daughter of the highly honored Mrs. Alonso Muffet.  During\nthat meal which has become historic, where did she sit?  _On a tuffet_!\"\n\nEverychild could not help asking, \"What _is_ a tuffet?\"\n\nBut Old Mother Hubbard only regarded him blankly, as if there had been\nno interruption, and then she proceeded.  \"And you will note what she\nwas eating.  _Curds and whey_--perfectly simple yet nutritious fare.\nThere were other instances showing that the wasteful dinner table must\ngo.  It was a wonderful address.  A treat.  A feast of good things.  A\n_spiritual_ feast.\"\n\nHer son tried to lift his head.  \"Yes, mother,\" he said, \"but you know\nI've sometimes thought how good it would seem to see you in the house,\ndressed for staying in instead of going out, and maybe sitting by the\nwindow sewing, or in the kitchen paring apples, or lifting the lid from\na pot and letting the steam out in a cloud . . .\"\n\n\"A survival of the male superstition that Woman was born into perpetual\nbondage,\" was the crisp response.\n\nIt seemed to Everychild that some one ought to change the subject.  He\ntried.  \"It's really very interesting, Mother Hubbard,\" he said;\n\"and--and that's a very nice dog you've got!\"\n\n\"Do you think so?  Take him away with you--do!  I see nothing nice\nabout him.\"\n\nBy this time her son could endure no more.  \"He's going to take him\naway, mother,\" he said.  \"And he's going to take me, too.  I just came\nto tell you good-by.\"\n\nFor the first time the old lady was strangely quiet.  She gasped an\ninstant and then she cried out angrily, \"Good-by?  And where are you\ngoing?\"\n\n\"I'm going with Everychild.  We're going to find the truth.\"\n\nHis mother turned aside.  \"The boy is mad!\" she said.  Then facing him\nagain she demanded, \"Do you know what the truth is?  I'll tell you.\nIt's this: When you get hungry and come back home, standing with one\nfoot on top of the other outside my door, _you'll find the door shut_!\"\n\nThere was an impressive silence for a moment, and then the Masked Lady\nremarked tranquilly, \"If he finds the truth, no door will ever be\nclosed to him again.\"\n\nThen Tom, turning to Everychild, said--\"Come, we'll go.\"\n\nThey left the house together.  The little dog bounded after them.  The\ndoor swung to.\n\nThe old lady, clearly alarmed, went to the door as if she would open it\nand cry out.  But pride prevented her from doing so.  She stood with\none hand on the wall, listening.  And at last she did open the door;\nbut not a living creature was in sight.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nMR. LITERAL'S WARNING\n\nEverychild was in a high state of excitement as he and Tom made their\nway back to where the other members of the band awaited them.\n\nHe had scarcely dared to hope that Tom would be able to get away from\nhis mother so easily.  She had seemed really terrible.  But now there\nwas little danger of her overtaking them and making her son go back.\n\nHe was delighted that there was to be a new member of the band; while\nthe thought of having a dog along with them seemed almost too good to\nbe true.  It would be much more interesting, having a dog with them.\nHe could not know, of course, what exciting events lay in wait for him,\nand it seemed to him that having the dog might be the most wonderful\npart of the entire journey.\n\nHe was just thinking that the band was now large enough, even if no\nother children appeared to go with them, when something occurred to mar\nhis perfect happiness.\n\nTom had been walking ahead, because he knew the path better; and all of\na sudden some one caught step with him and began to talk to him.\n\nIt was Mr. Literal; and the little old man was smiling in a very\nhypocritical manner and rubbing his hands together.\n\n\"Just a word of caution,\" said Mr. Literal, by way of beginning.\n\nEverychild knew it was going to be something disagreeable, but he only\nsaid, \"What is it?\"\n\n\"That fellow who calls himself your friend----\"\n\n\"You mean the giant,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"He's a bad lot.  Better keep an eye on him.\"\n\nEverychild stared at the path before him.\n\n\"I'll tell you a little something about him--then you'll know whether\nI'm right or not.  Did he ever tell you where his home is?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Everychild, very uncomfortably.\n\n\"Of course not.  Well, he was driven away from his home, years ago.\nHe'd not dare to go back.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"For telling lies.  Every word he speaks is false.  He doesn't know how\nto tell the truth.  His own mother doesn't know him any more.  That's\nhow bad he is.\"\n\n\"He seems a very pleasant boy,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"There you are!  Of course.  It's easy to have a name for being\npleasant if you're willing to say the first thing that comes to hand.\"\n\n\"But wouldn't you find people out if they did that?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"Of course!\"\n\n\"Well, when I find the giant out I'll remember what you've said.\"\n\nHe was glad that the path broadened into a road just then.  He ran\nforward a few steps and walked by the side of Tom.  He didn't want to\nhear anything more against the giant.  In truth, it had begun to seem\nto him the best thing of all, having the giant as a companion.  He even\nhoped that after a time the Masked Lady would take some other road and\nleave them.  It was rather uncomfortable, her happening to be places\nwhen you were not thinking about her.  And if she were to go away there\nwould be an end to Mr. Literal too.  They both might be all right in\ntheir way, but it ought to be a band of children, with nobody else\nabout.\n\nAnd so he put Mr. Literal and the Masked Lady, too, out of his mind.\nHe was talking eagerly to Tom when they got back to where the others\nwere.  He called out gladly, when he came within hearing of them, \"He's\ngoing with us.  And what do you think?  We've got a dog!\"\n\nThere was general rejoicing when the dog made his appearance, running\nfrom one to another to get acquainted.  And then, as they had already\nbeen delayed quite a little, they made haste to continue on their\njourney.\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nARGUMENT: EVERYCHILD VIEWS WITH AMAZEMENT A FAMOUS DWELLING-PLACE, AND\nIS GRIEVED BY THE PLIGHT OF AN UNFORTUNATE PRINCE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nA STRANGE HOUSE IN THE FOREST\n\nTogether they traveled along the road the greater part of the day\nwithout mishap and without any experience worth recording.\n\nAs was her custom, the Masked Lady did not make her appearance among\nthem as long as they were quite light-hearted, and Everychild went so\nfar as to congratulate himself upon having seen the last of her.\n\nToward evening they came within sight of a path leading into the road\non which they traveled, and on a stile which stood in the way of the\npath they observed a little boy who was plainly in trouble.\n\nWith much difficulty the little boy crawled up the stile, step by step;\nand when he got to the top step and paused a minute, he turned about,\njust as small children will do, and began climbing down the stile on\nthe other side, moving feet foremost.\n\nNow and again he looked over his shoulder to be sure that his feet had\nbeen safely placed before he put his weight on them; and when he did\nthis you could see his face, showing two eyes very bright with\nexcitement and fear.\n\nAt last he had got clear over the stile; and then he stood erect and\nput his finger in his mouth.  You could tell that he was trying to\nthink what to do now.\n\nIn the meantime Everychild and his companions had come up.\n\n\"Such a cute little chap,\" said Everychild.  Then he spoke to the\nchild.  \"Where are you going, little boy?\" he asked.\n\nThe little boy looked at Everychild blankly.  He looked at him quite a\nlong time.  Then he looked at the other members of the band.  Finally\nhe looked at Everychild again, still with a blank expression.  But at\nlast he replied, \"I want to go home, but I dasn't.\"\n\nThe band of travelers all laughed at this; whereupon the little boy\nlooked at all of them, one after another.  He still had his finger in\nhis mouth, where he kept crooking it and uncrooking it.\n\nThen Cinderella asked: \"Why dare you not go home?\"\n\nThe little boy lowered his eyes until they rested on the ground.\n\"Because I dasn't,\" he said.\n\n\"But why?\" persisted Cinderella.\n\nA pause; and then, \"Because I'll catch a lickin'.\"\n\nIt seemed to Everychild that the little boy was much too small to be\nwhipped; and he said with assurance, \"You may go with us, if you will,\nand then you'll never get a whipping again.\"\n\nBut the little boy only shook his head.  Clearly there was a difficulty\nin the way of accepting the invitation.  And presently he began,\nfalteringly, \"My brothers and sisters . . .\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Cinderella, understanding, \"he doesn't want to leave his\nbrothers and sisters.\"\n\n\"But we could take your brothers and sisters, too,\" said Everychild to\nthe little boy.\n\nThe little boy now gazed at Everychild, and the blank expression in his\neyes was there no more.\n\n\"Come, we'll get them,\" declared Everychild.  \"Do you live far away?\"\n\n\"There,\" said the little boy, pointing away into the forest, where not\na sign of a house was visible.\n\nHere Grettel spoke for the first time: \"Let's not,\" she said.  \"I don't\nthink I care about wandering away into the woods.\"\n\n\"We might get lost,\" suggested Cinderella.\n\nAnd now the giant interposed.  \"I agree with Everychild that we ought\nto take the little boy and his brothers and sisters with us,\" he said;\n\"and as for wandering away into the woods, that will not be necessary.\nI'll take you to the house where the little boy lives by a secret\nmethod which I understand.\"\n\nWith that he faced the depths of the forest and stood very erect, with\nhands uplifted.  There was a very solemn expression in his eyes.  And\nsuddenly it seemed that the nearby trees began to lift and disappear;\nand presto!--Everychild and his companions were standing quite close to\none of the most famous and remarkable houses ever heard of.\n\nEverychild had too little time just then to marvel at the strange feat\nwhich had been performed by the giant.  He was lost in amazement at the\nhouse before which he stood.\n\nIt was really an immense, dilapidated shoe, patched and broken.  The\ntoe was about to gape open, though it was held here and there by a few\nthreads.  The laces were gone and the whole upper sprawled shapelessly.\nIn brief, it was precisely like any old shoe you will see on a vacant\nlot, save for its immense size.  Its size was prodigious.  It was as\nlarge as a small house.\n\nA stovepipe stuck out where the little toe would be, and smoke was\npouring out of the pipe just as if some one had been putting a supply\nof fuel on the fire.  It was woodsmoke and had a pleasant smell.  It\nseemed that perhaps some one was preparing supper.\n\nNot a soul was in sight about the house--or the shoe--nor about the\npremises.  Yet you could see that some one had been hard at work only a\nshort time before.  The wash had been hung out to dry and it was still\ndamp.  It hung from a line which was suspended from the highest point\nof the shoe--where the strap is that you pull it on by--to the limb of\na nearby tree.  You could tell by the garments that there were a lot of\nchildren about.  There were best shirts and every-day shirts and\npetticoats and trousers.  There were many colors, so that they all made\na rather gay spectacle.  And some were of ordinary size, and some were\nquite tiny.\n\nThere were many trees in the background; and one of these cast its\nshade over the immense shoe in a very pleasing way.  There was a table\nunder the tree, and a kind of dinner-bell hanging from a limb of the\ntree.  There were chairs about the table.  Finally, there was a ladder\nstanding against the shoe, so that you could climb up and get in at the\ntop.\n\n\"And so,\" said Everychild in a tone of wonder, \"this is where you\nlive!\"  He had taken the little boy by the hand.\n\nThe little boy was about to reply when something almost alarming\nhappened.  The little boy slipped his hand away from Everychild's and\nshrank back until he was hiding behind Cinderella's skirt.  An\nastonishing head and shoulders appeared above the top of the shoe!\n\nThe Old Woman who Lived in the Shoe had heard them.  She remained\nperched in her place, glaring severely about the yard below.\n\nNor was this all.  Other individuals inside the shoe had evidently\nheard the voice of Everychild.  And now they began to peep out in the\nmost extraordinary fashion.  Three pairs of eyes appeared at the broken\ntoe of the shoe.  And up the double row of eye-holes, all the way up\nthe front of the shoe, startled faces were to be seen.  You could see\nexcited eyes with hair hanging down before them.\n\nAll this proved too much for the little black dog, who had gone forward\nfrom Tom's side to inspect the shoe.  Now he began barking excitedly at\nthe half-hidden faces.\n\nEverychild stood in his place, wide-eyed and with beating heart.\n\nThe Old Woman arose more fully into view.  She stared down at\nEverychild.  She flung the hair back from her face.\n\n\"Humph!\" she said.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nAN ELABORATION OF ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST SUCCINCT CHAPTERS\n\nEverychild's companions drew back behind the shelter of a convenient\nbush.  The Old Woman's countenance really did seem, for the moment,\nquite ferocious.  But Everychild did not move.\n\nThe Old Woman arose still higher and stepped out of the top of the shoe\nto the top rung of the ladder.  She carried a steaming pot in one hand,\nand thus handicapped she descended the ladder.\n\nShe placed the steaming pot on the table and then turned her attention\nto Everychild.  She exclaimed dubiously: \"You're not one o' mine!\"\n\nHe shook his head.  \"No, ma'am,\" he replied.\n\nShe sat down deliberately, drawing a long breath, but without taking\nher eyes from Everychild.  \"Just an idler,\" she said, \"like all the\nrest of the young ones.  I don't know what's the matter with them these\ndays--children.  When I was young I had to work.  I expected nothing\nless.  And I tell mine what was good enough for me is good enough for\nthem.\"\n\nShe made this statement as if she hadn't left a single thing to be said.\n\nIt seemed rather obscure to Everychild.  He tried to think of a more\nagreeable subject.  He looked the Old Woman's house over, up and down.\n\"It's rather a funny house, isn't it?\" he remarked.\n\nThe Old Woman's manner became more sullen than ever.  She seized upon a\nladle and began stirring the steaming pot.  \"It does very well,\" she\ndeclared.  \"Houses are funny or otherwise according to what goes on in\nthem.  When you've got your hands full of children who don't want to\nwork you can't say that your house is exactly funny.  Its being an old\nshoe--if that's what you mean . . . that's a matter of taste.  I prefer\nit, for my part.  I'd never have been able to settle down anywhere\nelse.  You see, I had to be on my feet mostly all the time from little\non, and now it comes natural, being in a shoe.  I can imagine I'm on\nthe go, even if I never get out from one week's end to another.\"\n\nShe lifted the ladle from the pot.  She pressed one hand to her bosom\nand with the other lifted the ladle to her lips, testing the stew.\nThere was a thoughtful look in her eyes.  Then she continued:\n\n\"_As for living in a shoe . . . there's plenty of females that live in\ntwo_.  Always on the go, they're that restless.  I tell my undergrowth\nit's no more disgrace to live in one shoe than in two, so long as\nyou've got one that's big enough.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"As for living in a shoe . . . there's plenty of females\nthat live in two.\"]\n\nShe seemed so pleased with this remark that she had to stir the pot\nvigorously, as a relief to her emotions.\n\nThere was a surprising interruption just here.  The Masked Lady and Mr.\nLiteral were there, after all, standing close behind Everychild.  And\nMr. Literal was saying: \"She seems to be a bit of a cynic.  That\nreference to women on the go . . . _what period should you say she\nbelongs to_?\"\n\n\"To every period,\" said the Masked Lady.  After which, fortunately,\nthey remained silent.  \"And your children,\" said Everychild.  \"I don't\nsee them anywhere.\"\n\n\"They'll be here soon enough.  I hire 'em out by the day--the boys.  I\ntell 'em if they won't work for me I'll put 'em under masters who'll\nmake 'em work.  They gather fagots--the boys.  The girls are in the\nhouse.  They did the wash to-day and I keep 'em under my eye until it's\ntime to take the clothes in.  Nothing like keeping a girl under your\neye if you want to know where she is.\"\n\nShe got up with an air of great industry and went to the line where the\nwash was hanging.\n\nShe tried the garments with her hand.  It seemed they were now dry\nenough to be taken in.  She stepped to the bell suspended from the tree\nand struck it sharply with a little mallet which had been provided for\nthis purpose.\n\nWonder of wonders!--the top of the shoe began to overflow with girls!\nThey were rather carelessly dressed, and there was hair in their\neyes--they took after their mother in this matter--but being young,\nthey were all fresh and blooming in a way.\n\nThey could leave the shoe only one at a time.  They began descending\nthe ladder in a sort of procession.  You would have thought the last\none would never make her appearance.\n\nThey paid very little attention to Everychild.  They began taking in\nthe wash.  Some held their arms out to receive the clothes which others\nremoved from the line.  They took the line down the last thing of all.\nThey wound it up carefully.\n\nJust at this time there were stealthy movements all about the house, as\nif robbers were coming.  From among the trees the boys began to steal\nhome.  They came from various directions, all walking on tip-toe.  Many\nof them hung back fearfully, though two of them found courage enough to\ncome up close to Everychild.\n\n\"You must be the boys coming home,\" said Everychild.\n\nThe first son nodded, but kept his eyes fixed anxiously on the Old\nWoman.  She was glaring at a girl ascending the ladder.  \"Look sharp\nwhere you put those things, now,\" she was saying.  \"I'll be inside in a\nminute, and if you haven't put them away properly I'll know the reason\nwhy!\"\n\nEverychild felt that he was fully justified in saying (to the first\nson) \"She seems to be pretty bad, doesn't she!\"\n\nThe first son fairly jumped.  \"Not so loud!\" he whispered.  \"She might\nhear you.\"\n\nThe Old Woman really had heard.  She stared at her first son in a\nterrible manner.  \"So you've come, have you?\" she exclaimed.  \"And I\nsuppose you'll tell me you've been working hard all day?\"\n\n\"Yes, mother,\" replied the first son, \"We've carried more fagots than\nyou ever saw.  Such fine fagots!  Didn't we?\"  He turned to the second\nson to have his report verified.\n\n\"You wouldn't believe how many fine fagots we carried,\" declared the\nsecond son.\n\nThe other sons began to appear one by one, now that the first shock of\nbattle was over.  They all stared up at the Old Woman as if they were\nprepared to run if she so much as sneezed.\n\n\"Well, you know what's coming to you now,\" said the Old Woman.  \"Come\non, all of you!\"\n\nThey all began to make wry faces.  \"If we could only have some bread\nwith it, mother!\" pleaded the first son.\n\n\"You'll take what's offered you!\" exclaimed the Old Woman grimly.\n\n\"And if you wouldn't whip us to-night, mother--anyway, not so soundly,\"\nsaid the second son.\n\nTo this the Old Woman retorted: \"Who does the whipping around here, I'd\nlike to know?  Come here this instant!\"\n\nIt seemed that there was to be a brief respite, however; for the Old\nWoman turned to the steaming pot and began testing its contents with\ngreat seriousness, lifting the ladle to her lips again and again, and\nlooking abstractedly far away into the forest.\n\nIn the meantime more of the children gathered around Everychild.  A few\nof the girls now joined their brothers.  They looked at Everychild with\nunconcealed admiration.\n\n\"What do you suppose she is going to do to you?\" asked Everychild of\nthe group about him.\n\nThe first son replied to this: \"I should think you'd know.  Haven't you\nbeen told how she whips us something terrible?\"\n\nEverychild inquired in amazement: \"All of you?\"\n\nThe first daughter now spoke.  \"All of us,\" she said.  \"Every last one\nof us.  That's just before she puts us to bed, you know.\"\n\n\"Of course--I remember now,\" said Everychild.  \"She 'whips you all\nsoundly.'\"\n\n\"That's no word for it,\" declared the first son.  \"You know she's had\nan awful lot of experience all these years.  And there's so many of us.\"\n\nHe concluded this sentence in so meek a manner that Everychild\nexclaimed indignantly, \"I think it ought to be stopped.  If I were you\n. . . did you ever try hiding her whip?\"\n\nThe first daughter replied hopelessly, \"We couldn't do that.  Her whip\n. . . it's the kind of whip that grows, you understand.\"\n\n\"Some sort of limb?\"\n\n\"You might call it that.  But it's her own limb.\"\n\n\"Yes, if she got it first.\"\n\n\"She did.  It's her hand.\"\n\n\"Do you mean,\" demanded Everychild, \"that she whips all of you with her\nhand?\"\n\n\"And does a thorough job, too,\" said the first daughter.\n\nEverychild assumed a very grave air.  \"How often does this happen?\" he\nasked.\n\n\"Every night,\" he was assured.\n\nHe made a very wry face.  \"But such things . . .\"  He couldn't think of\nthe right word at first.  Then he asked, \"But isn't it all very--very\nvulgar?\"\n\nThe first daughter sighed.  \"I suppose so,\" she admitted.  \"But when\nthere are so many children you can't help being a little vulgar.\"\n\nThe first son put in here: \"And you mustn't think too hard of mother.\nYou can imagine her position: so many of us, and the high cost of\nliving, and all.  Sometimes I think she whips us just to get our minds\noff our stomachs.  You know, a supper of broth without any bread--and\nthat's just what it is--is about as bad as nothing at all.  But if\nyou've been whipped soundly you forget about being hungry.  You think\nabout running away, or something like that.  And the next thing you\nknow it's morning.\"\n\nEverychild still felt very uncomfortable.  \"But how does she manage\nabout breakfast?\" he asked.\n\n\"Oh, she has to feed us well in the morning--to keep us from starving,\"\nexplained the first son.\n\nEverychild nodded as if the matter had been made perfectly clear.  And\nthen the Old Woman cried out quite alarmingly, \"Are you coming, or\nshall I have to fetch you?\"\n\nSeveral of the children replied to this: \"We're coming!\"  Nevertheless\nthey did not go immediately.  The first daughter would not go without\nsaying to Everychild, \"Of course we ought to invite you to have supper\nwith us--but you see it isn't quite like a regular supper.\"  She\nblushed painfully.\n\nEverychild reassured her immediately.  \"Don't think of it,\" he said.\n\nThe second son also had something else to say.  \"I suppose there aren't\nso many of you at your house?\" he asked.\n\n\"So many children?\" replied Everychild.  \"No.  Not any, now.  I was the\nonly child.\"\n\nThis had the effect of exciting all the sons and daughters.  The second\nson voiced the amazement which they all felt.  \"You don't say so!\" he\nexclaimed.  \"But how did you ever get anything to wear?  If there was\nno one ahead of you, how could they make anything over for you?\"\n\nEverychild really did not understand this.  \"Why, my mother used to get\nthings for me,\" he said.\n\n\"Your mother, certainly,\" said the second son.  \"But who wore your\nclothes before you got them?\"\n\n\"No one, I suppose.  You mean that your clothes . . . ?\"\n\n\"They're made over from the things the older children have grown too\nbig for.\"\n\nEverychild was more and more puzzled.  \"Yes,\" he said, \"but the oldest\none of all--there had to be a beginning!\"\n\nThe second son laughed.  \"In the beginning,\" he explained, \"they have\nto be cut down from father's things.\"\n\n\"Oh--your father's!\" exclaimed Everychild.  Then in a polite murmur,\n\"I--I never heard of your father.\"\n\nThe second son explained this simply.  \"You never do, when there are so\nmany children,\" he said.\n\nWhile Everychild was nodding slowly in reply to this the scene suddenly\nchanged.\n\nThe Old Woman took two or three steps in the direction of her sons and\ndaughters; and the sons and daughters, seeing there was no hope for\nthem, approached her with hanging heads.\n\nThe scene which followed was such that Everychild felt certain he could\nnever forget it.  One after another the children were seized and fed a\nfew spoonfuls of the broth without any bread.  Then each was spanked\nmost soundly.  Then one by one they quickly escaped up the ladder until\nthe last of them had disappeared.  It was all over in a very short time.\n\nEverychild had now been joined by his companions, who saw the last of\nthe Old Woman's children scramble up the ladder and disappear.\n\nAs for the Old Woman, she stood a moment, panting, as well she might,\nand then she made her way around behind the shoe.  Just before she\ndisappeared she glared at Everychild and actually _made a face at him_!\n\nEverychild addressed his companions.  \"I think we ought to get them to\ngo with us,\" he said.  \"That's no way for them to be treated--to be\nwhipped and sent to bed like that.\"\n\nThe giant began dreamily--\"There ought to be some way . . .\"\n\nEverychild's eyes brightened.  \"If we could only open the toe of the\nshoe--though of course we couldn't!\"\n\n\"We could,\" declared the giant.\n\nThey went forward stealthily.  Will o'Dreams following the example of\nEverychild and moving without a sound.\n\nThe giant slipped his fingers under the loose ends of the toe of the\nshoe and tugged with all his might.  After resisting a moment the toe\nlifted.\n\nWhat a sight do we behold!  One child after another came tumbling out\nof the shoe until all the Old Woman's sons and daughters had been\nliberated.  They sprang to their feet excitedly, dusting their garments\nand looking grateful and relieved.\n\nEverychild addressed them briefly, in a low voice: \"You're going away\nwith us, all of you.  You're not going to stand such treatment any\nlonger.  We're all going on a great adventure, and you shall go with\nus.\"\n\nThe sons and daughters all made eager signs of assent, though they were\ncareful not to speak a word.  Only the little black dog violated the\nrule of silence.  He fairly danced about the entire group of children.\nAnd then they all slipped away into the forest.\n\nLet us, however, remain a moment to note what took place about the shoe.\n\nPresently the Old Woman emerged from behind the shoe.  She was yawning\nprodigiously.  Slowly she climbed the ladder.  She disappeared.  But\nwas this to be the last of her?  Not so!\n\nOnly a moment later her head and shoulders again appeared.  Her eyes\nwere staring wildly.  She looked this way and that, all about her.  Her\neyes clearly revealed that she had realized her loss.  At last she\nbegan beating her bosom with both hands.  Her hair fell down until you\ncould scarcely see her face.\n\nAnd far off in the forest her children were speeding on their way.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nEVERYCHILD WITH ADDITIONAL COMPANIONS FINDS REFUGE IN AN OLD HOUSE\n\nEverychild and his companions were now journeying through a country\nwhere the evenings were very long; and thus it chanced that after they\nhad all departed from the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, there was\nstill a considerable period of daylight before them.\n\nTheir number was now greatly augmented by the sons and daughters of the\nOld Woman, and as a result, they were merrier than they had been\nbefore.  Just the same, they began to be hungry before night fell, and\nthey were greatly puzzled as to where they might satisfy their hunger.\n\nIndeed, it may be confessed that Hansel became really disagreeable, and\nremarked--in a muttering fashion, so that no one could be sure of\nunderstanding him--that they might be on the right road to find the\ntruth, but that if they did not find food in greater abundance before\nlong, he, for his part, should take some other direction.\n\nThere were moments when Everychild was tempted to turn back; but he\ncould not doubt that if they all persevered they would come to a\nglorious end to their adventure sooner or later, and perhaps very soon.\n\nUnfortunately, they made so much noise as they journeyed that such\ntravelers as might have been on the road, and who might by good chance\nhave offered them food, turned aside and hid from them, fearing, no\ndoubt, that they were the Forty Thieves, or some other equally\nrapacious band.\n\nOnly one incident occurred to break the monotony of the evening hour.\nThey came upon two adorable little children whom they found clinging\ntogether and weeping freely.\n\nOne of these they recognized immediately as Little Boy Blue; and as\nthey had never known of his having to bear any very grievous\nmisfortune, they suspected that his tears might be of the sort that are\neasily dried.  Yet it developed that Little Boy Blue had not wept until\nhe had borne up a long time with great fortitude.\n\nThe band paused and Everychild asked, \"Why are you weeping, Little Boy\nBlue?\"\n\nThe reply came between broken sobs.  \"I could bear it no longer,\" said\nLittle Boy Blue.  \"I was required to watch the cows and the sheep from\nearly morn till dark, and often I must needs arise at night to run\nforth to the fold when there was an alarm of wolves.  Day after day my\nhead grew heavier from want of sleep, until at last I could keep my\neyes open no longer.  I stole under the haystack to snatch a few extra\nwinks, and when I was discovered my shame and disgrace were heralded\nforth to all the world.\"  And again the poor child sobbed without\nrestraint.\n\n\"And this dear little girl with you,\" asked Cinderella, who had been\nwalking side by side with Everychild, \"who is she?\"\n\nLittle Boy Blue checked his grief long enough to stare at Cinderella\nincredulously.  \"Is it possible that there is anywhere a person who\ndoes not recognize Little Bo-Peep?\" he asked.\n\n\"So it is!\" exclaimed Cinderella.  And bending tenderly above the form\nof Little Bo-Peep she asked, \"And why do you weep so bitterly, Little\nBo-Peep?\"\n\nThe child could scarcely speak, so spent was she with weeping; but\nlittle by little Cinderella drew from her the truth.  The little thing\nwas much too small to be entrusted with the care of sheep, and her life\nhad been made wretched by fear of the great dogs which were never\nabsent from the flocks, and by the dark rumors of wolves which the\nshepherds were forever repeating.\n\nGrettel expressed her opinion of the case without reserve.  \"It may be\nhysteria,\" she said, \"though it looks more to me like a complete\nnervous break-down.\"\n\n\"I hardly think so,\" said Cinderella smiling.  \"We'll just take them\nalong with us, and they'll be all right.\"\n\nAnd so, with the addition of yet another pair to their numbers, they\nquickened their pace along the road.\n\nThey were becoming hungrier every minute--even the sons and daughters\nof the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, who, as we have seen, had had far\ntoo light a supper--and while they were willing to sleep without\nshelter, if they were called upon to do so, they all hoped that they\nneed not go to sleep supperless.\n\nWhile there was still a short period of daylight remaining they came\ninto an ancient town situated at the foot of a hill on which a castle\nstood; and upon questioning a number of the townspeople they learned\nthat they had entered the realm of a cruel king, who resided in the\ncastle on the hill.\n\n\"Take my advice and escape while ye may,\" said one ancient man with a\nlong white beard.  He had addressed Everychild.  He added, \"The king\nhath a grudge against one manly little lad who greatly resembles you,\nand if he once sets eyes on you I should tremble for the consequences.\"\n\nEverychild thanked the old man for this well-meant counsel.  \"But,\"\nsaid he, \"my friends and I are weary, and we must think of resting for\nthe night before we set forth on our way again.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said the old man, \"you might find shelter in yonder house,\nwhich hath long remained empty, because it is said to be haunted.\"  And\nhe pointed to a neglected old house hard by the road.  \"Though,\" he\nadded, \"I can assure you that the story which hath it that there are\nspecters in the house is but an idle one.  The truth is this: there\nonce dwelt a good woman and her fair daughter in the house; and the\ncruel king seeing the daughter, he commanded straightway that she be\nbrought to him to become his bride.  The good woman, desiring to save\nher daughter, escaped; and the henchmen of the king, not wishing the\nreal truth to be known, invented the story of a ghost in the house.\nAnd since that day no one has ventured to occupy the house after\nsundown.\"\n\nEverychild thanked the old man again; and then, together with all his\ncompanions, he entered the old house which had been pointed out to him.\n\nThere was, indeed, no trace of ghostly occupants of the house; but on\nthe contrary, the rooms, upstairs and down, speedily became the scene\nof much jollity.  It seemed, also, that the old man had spread the\nreport among the townspeople that a band of children had taken refuge\nin the house for the night; and many kindly-disposed folk came and\nbrought food and drink, so that there was an abundance for all the\nchildren.\n\nAfter eating heartily, and looking from the windows to observe the\ncastle wherein the king dwelt, they all sought a good night's rest.\n\nAnd now once again we must leave Everychild and his companions for a\nlittle while, and take our place among surroundings at once strange and\ncruel.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nHOW THE HAND OF A CHAMBERLAIN TREMBLED\n\nWe are now in a room in the castle of the cruel king, on top of the\nhill.\n\nThe four walls of the room were grim and forbidding of aspect.  The\ntapestry covering them in places was old and of somber design.  There\nwere two doors opening to the room: one on the right and one on the\nleft.  At the far side of the room there was a deep-silled window with\nleaded panes through which a dreary light struggled.\n\nAt first you would have said that the room was empty; and then you\nwould have perceived the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal, occupying a\nposition among the shadows, not far from the deep-silled window.\n\nThe Masked Lady was again wearing the white garment in which we first\nbeheld her.  She was seated before a desk, writing in a large book in\nwhich you could see a few initial letters in red, outlined in gold.\n\nMr. Literal stood by her, regarding her with an impatient, puzzled air.\nAnd presently it would have seemed that he could no longer endure her\nsilence; for he asked in a fault-finding tone:\n\n\"Can you tell me what you're doing here?  This place is--is genuine.\nAnd of late it has been your fancy to haunt places which have existed\nonly in the imaginations of the story-tellers.\"\n\nWithout looking up from the Book of Truth (for this was the volume in\nwhich she was writing) the Masked Lady replied: \"Did you say that this\nplace is genuine?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said Mr. Literal.  \"We are in a medieval castle in\nNorthampton--the castle of King John of England.  King John or his\nchamberlain is likely to enter at any moment.  And goodness knows what\nthey'd say at finding you here.\"\n\nThe Masked Lady turned a page.  \"King John would not see me here if he\nwere to enter,\" said she; \"no, neither here nor anywhere.  And as for\nhonest old Hubert de Burgh . . . well, perhaps I have a purpose in\nbeing here.  You have said this place is genuine; yet I sometimes\nwonder if any place in all the world is so unreal as the palace of a\nking.\"  She gazed before her dreamily for an instant and added, \"I can\nsee a day coming when all such palaces will be viewed by wondering,\nemancipated people, their minds filled with incredulity: because they\nwill realize that kings' palaces have represented the most terrible\ndelusion of all.\"\n\nThere was a footfall without at that moment, and the Masked Lady\nresumed her writing.\n\nA bluff, soldierly-appearing man of middle age entered the room: a\nbearded man of harsh visage, yet with an eye in which justice sat\nenthroned.  He looked about the room with an air of dawning relief; and\nwhen two villainous-looking rascals followed him into the room he\nremarked, with a sigh: \"He's not here.  And that's a bit of luck at\nleast--to have no one about whilst we mix this devil's brew.\"  Then\nmore briskly: \"A red-hot iron--red-hot, do you hear?--in a hurry!\"\n\nThe first attendant, to whom he had spoken, glanced darkly at the\nsecond door of the room, which remained closed.  \"A hot iron?  Yes,\nsir,\" he said, trying to speak naturally.  \"It shall be prepared.\"\n\nThe second attendant seemed incapable of remaining silent--after the\nmanner of sorry men.  \"It will be quite simple, sir,\" he said.\n\nHubert de Burgh (for the soldierly-appearing man was he) turned upon\nthem fiercely.  \"Enough!\" he exclaimed.  \"I don't know how men of your\nbreed go about a task like this, but Hubert de Burgh has always faced\nthe truth.  Listen: When you've fetched me the hot iron you'll hide\nbehind the tapestry there.  And when I stamp on the floor you'll come\nquickly and bind him hand and foot.\"\n\nThe first attendant found courage to say: \"Bind him?  A little lad like\nthat?  A man might do the job with one hand without half trying.\"\n\nBut Hubert de Burgh gazed at the man darkly.  \"Look you, fellow,\" he\nsaid, \"there are forces besides a man's hands which are powerful.  His\nvery helplessness and innocence . . .  I think they shall paralyze my\nhands and make me helpless.  Do as I say: bind the boy and stand near,\nready to lend a hand.\"\n\nWhereupon the first and second attendants withdrew, staring as if with\nterror at the unopened door near which they had to pass.\n\nHubert de Burgh took no further notice of them, but dropped into a\nchair and stared straight before him.\n\nAt this point Mr. Literal began rubbing his hands and smiling with\npleased excitement.  \"It seems,\" he remarked to the Masked Lady, \"that\nwe're to be in on a really famous event--the slaying of Prince Arthur.\nIt's a great opportunity of its kind.  It will give me a chance to\nconfute the historians who have quarreled among themselves about how\nthe poor boy met his death.  How--er--how should you say he dies?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady replied tranquilly: \"He does not die.  He lives forever\nto proclaim to all mankind that the way of kings is an evil way.\"\n\nIt was now that Hubert de Burgh bestirred himself as if he could no\nlonger bear to be alone with his thoughts.  He cried out\nsharply--\"Arthur!  Arthur!\"\n\nThe second door now opened and Prince Arthur appeared: a handsome boy,\nperhaps fourteen years of age, straight of limb and noble of\ncountenance.  He wore a velvet suit, including knee breeches and silk\nhose and gaiters, and a jacket with a flowing lace collar.\n\nHe regarded Hubert de Burgh with dull eyes which slowly began to\nbrighten.  \"Oh, it's you?\" he cried after a pause.  And then, \"If you\ncould know how glad I am to see you!\"  And then, falteringly,\n\"Hubert--when you were a boy, were you ever kept hidden away as if you\nmeant ill to every one?\"\n\nAnd now he approached Hubert with a wistful air, and leaned against his\nknee, and placed his hand on his shoulder.\n\nBut the chamberlain flinched beneath the weight of that light hand.\n\"There, there, Arthur!--take your hand away!\" he said.  And then, with\nan attempt to be severe, \"We'll have none of that, you know!\"\n\nPrince Arthur pondered, and then his eyes brightened.  \"I'm glad you\nsaid that, Hubert,\" he declared.  \"If you feel that way toward me you\ncan tell me why--why all the others feel so.  Every face I look into\nseems either to pity or to hate me; and I'd so like people to be\nfriendly.  Tell me, why must I take my hand away?\"\n\nThe stern man plucked at his beard thoughtfully; and suddenly he turned\nto the boy with a quality of stern candor which was a true prince's\ndue.  \"Listen, boy,\" he said.  \"It is the fate of kings to tremble at\nmany things: at the too great misery of their subjects, at their too\ngreat liberty; at the touch of those who claim to be friends, at the\nwhisper of a foe's voice.  They have taught themselves that they rule\nby divine right, yet they move by day and by night like any thief who\ncarries booty beneath his cloak when he walks before those in\nauthority, or like one who is wounded unto death who would hide his\nwound from a strong adversary.  Your Uncle John fears you, Arthur,\nbecause his throne is yours by right--if there were such a thing as\nright to any throne.  And he has willed that you must die.  He has\nappointed me . . . but there, I must to my task.  No struggling,\nnow--no resistence.  It will be better so.  The king's will be done.\"\n\nHe would have summoned his attendants then, but Prince Arthur stayed\nhim with one more question.  \"And how would you take my life, dear\nHubert?\" he asked in a gentle voice.\n\nBut this the chamberlain would not tell him.  Instead he stamped on the\nfloor and the two attendants entered hurriedly, one bearing a hot iron\nand the other a cord with which to bind the prince's hands and feet.\n\"These,\" said Hubert, \"will make plain the manner of the deed.\"\n\nBut Arthur only clapped his hands in mirth.  \"It is your way of\njesting, Hubert,\" he said, \"to amuse me.\"  But there was a catch in his\nvoice as he continued, \"It is your way of driving away the shadows\nwhich hang about me always.  Dear Hubert, I know what a kind heart you\nhave!\"\n\nBut despite these brave words he turned pale and suddenly clapped his\nhands to his eyes to shut out the terrible vision he had beheld.\n\nHubert cried out huskily to the attendants, \"Bind him--and be quick!\"\n\nWith this the attendants seized the prince, one on either side.  Yet\nthey paused when they perceived that the prince wished to speak: a\nfinal word to the chamberlain.  The boy had turned upon Hubert a calm\nglance.  A strange stillness had come over him.  He spoke in a low,\nintense voice--\n\n\"Do not permit them to bind me,\" he said.  \"It would be shameful for a\nprince to be bound.  I know you were not speaking in jest, but please\ndo not let them bind me, as if I were a slave.  I shall think of you as\nmy friend--as long as my hands are free.  Come, Hubert . . . do you\nrecall how, when your head once ached, I put my handkerchief about it\nto comfort you?  It was one that a princess did make for me.  Remember\nhow I have loved you--and do not let them bind me!\"\n\nHis plea prevailed.  \"So--then they shall not!\" cried Hubert.  And to\nthe attendants he exclaimed fiercely, \"Begone!  Did I not bid you be\nswift, that the very blood in my veins should not turn to water?\nFellows--begone!  It may be that my task will be easier if I work alone\nand he resist me.\"\n\nThe two attendants turned in terror before the wrath of the chamberlain\nand fled.  And before Hubert had withdrawn his eyes from their\nretreating forms certain strange events came to pass.\n\nThe Masked Lady had remained, strangely tranquil, before the Book of\nTruth; but now she lifted her eyes, because the great windows with\ntheir leaded panes had been thrust open.  Outside the open windows\nthere were revealed the head and shoulders of the giant, Will o'Dreams.\n\nThe giant paused long enough to take in the scene before him, and then\nhe disappeared in great agitation.\n\nA moment later he had reappeared and had lifted Everychild to a level\nwith the window sill.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nHOW AN UNFORTUNATE PRINCE ESCAPED\n\nThe giant could be heard whispering to Everychild: \"I cannot enter\nhere.  The things which are taking place in this room--they stagger me.\nBut you may do so.\"  Whereupon he placed Everychild on the window sill\nand withdrew with a shudder.\n\nA light leap, and Everychild was in the room, advancing and taking in\nhis surroundings with amazed eyes.  But no one paid any attention to\nhim.  Hubert de Burgh stood near Prince Arthur, a smoking iron in his\nhand.  The two attendants closed the door behind them with a crash.\nThen Arthur spoke again:\n\n\"I could not bear to have them looking, Hubert,\" he said.  \"It will be\neasier, just we two alone.  I am ready now.\"\n\nIt was then that Hubert gripped Arthur by the shoulder; he brought the\nhot iron close to his face.  And then again his resolution failed him.\nHis hand trembled; he paused.  Presently he was gazing away over the\nprince's head, almost as if he saw a vision, and his hand on the boy's\nshoulder slowly relaxed.\n\n\"A strange lad!--a strange lad!\" he mused.  And then looking\nwonderingly at Arthur he added, \"The agony is gone from your eyes when\nyou look at me now.  And yet it is I who would destroy you--not those\nfellows who made you tremble so!\"\n\nThe prince drew himself up with unconscious pride.  \"I would rather\nsuffer at the hands of those I love than receive benefits from\nhirelings,\" he said.\n\nBut Hubert shook his head darkly.  \"Hirelings?\" he repeated.  \"Ah, who\nis not a hireling, when a king may have his way?  Who can call his\nhonor his own, when a crown is counted a more sacred thing than a man's\nsoul?\"  He paused in silence again and then added almost\nbanteringly--yet with a note of earnestness, too--\"Come, boy, the young\nhave wary eyes and swift feet.  Can you not flee and escape from the\nwrath and fear of your uncle the King?\"\n\nBut Arthur shook his head.  \"I think when your work is done, dear\nHubert,\" he said, \"the fear of the king and his wrath will trouble me\nno more.\"\n\nHubert frowned darkly.  \"That is an old man's creed,\" he cried.  \"It is\nmonstrous that a child should welcome death!\"\n\nHe turned away from Arthur and fixed his blank eyes in the direction of\nEverychild.  And presently he lifted his trembling hand to his brow,\nand there was the light of a terrible vision in his eyes.  He began to\nspeak like one in a dreadful dream--\n\n\"Methinks I see the face of Everychild!\" he mused.  \"Methinks that\nalways the face of Everychild shall gaze upon me with horror and\ncontempt because I slew this gentle lad.  Nay, by my faith, I will not!\"\n\nHe thrust Arthur from him.  \"Go your way!\" he cried.  \"Though there\nwere a thousand King Johns, it shall also be said that there was one\nHubert de Burgh.  If heaven has set no bounds to duty, then I owe a\nduty to myself as well as to the king.  And if a child must needs teach\nme that there are things more terrible than death, then let me learn a\nlesson from this child who has the soul of a prince, though he may\nnever wield the scepter of a king.  Go free, boy.  King John may have a\nthousand murderers, but it shall also be said of him that he had for\nchamberlain one who was a man.\"\n\nWith the tread of a soldier, undaunted and unashamed, he left the room.\n\nFor a moment Arthur lifted his face with an expression of intense\nrelief; but little by little his eyes darkened again and his head\ndrooped.\n\n\"He has spared me--yet to what end?\" he mused.  \"I have escaped for the\nmoment, yet in a few days--on what day none may tell--a new jailor, a\npoisoned cup, a summons up a broken stairway in the dark, a ride on the\nriver in a mist . . .  Ah, woe is me!  How shall I really escape?\"\n\nHe stood disconsolate a moment, and then it seemed he saw Everychild\nfor the first time: Everychild, who came toward him, slowly yet with\nassurance.\n\n\"You shall come with me,\" said Everychild.\n\nAnd the prince replied indulgently, \"With you, Everychild?  But whither\nare you going?\"\n\n\"I fare forth to find the truth,\" said Everychild.\n\nArthur replied: \"It seems you should be a prince if you would find it\nsoon.  I shall find the truth before you, Everychild.\"\n\n\"We shall find it together,\" declared Everychild.\n\n\"I was near finding it now,\" said Arthur; \"and even yet I cannot think\nit is far away.\"\n\nBut Everychild had gone to the window, evidently in the hope of seeing\nthe giant, Will o'Dreams; and while Arthur looked after him hopelessly,\nMr. Literal took occasion to say to the Masked Lady--\n\n\"He is as beautiful as tradition has pictured him.  Small wonder that\nhis foolish mother was moved to speak of him so eloquently.  Do you\nremember?--\n\n  \"'Grief fills the room up of my absent child,\n  Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,\n  Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,\n  Remembers me of all his gracious parts,\n  Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form:\n  Then have I reason to be fond of grief.'\"\n\n\nThen the giant appeared at the window and there was a hurried\nconference between him and Everychild.  Soon the latter turned\nconfidently toward Arthur.\n\n\"Come, you shall go with me,\" said Everychild eagerly.\n\nIt seemed for an instant that the prince was really hopeful.  Then\nagain his dark mood returned--the mood of one who believes he is lost.\nYet nevertheless he put forth his hand to Everychild and said, \"Yes, I\nwill go with you.\"\n\nHe approached the window with slow, majestic tread.  Once he shrank\nback and lifted his hands to his eyes.  Then he climbed resolutely to\nthe window sill.  He could be seen for an instant, and then he\ndisappeared.\n\nSeeing that he had vanished, Everychild hurried to the window, his face\nelated.  \"Splendid!\" he cried.  \"Now he shall be my companion to the\nend of time!\"\n\nThen the giant could be seen at the window.  He put forth his hands and\nlifted Everychild through the window.\n\nA moment, and then Hubert de Burgh re-entered the room.  He cast a\nswift, agitated glance about the room, and soon he noted the open\nwindow.\n\n\"The window!\" he cried in a loud voice.  \"God save us all!\"\n\nHe stood staring at the open window; and as he did so the Masked Lady\nhid her face in her arms upon the Book of Truth before her.  She was\nsoftly weeping.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\n\nARGUMENT: EVERYCHILD'S FEET ARE DRAWN TO THE SPOT WHERE THE SLEEPING\nBEAUTY IN THE WOOD LIES.  TIME PASSES.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nA SONG IN THE GARDEN\n\nWhile Everychild and the giant had made their visit to the castle of\nthe cruel king, their companions had remained in the old house at the\nfoot of the hill, and great was their delight when the two who had been\nabsent returned, bringing with them Prince Arthur, toward whom all the\nchildren felt immediately drawn.\n\nIt was quickly decided that the prince should be allowed to rest before\nthey resumed their journey; and as they were very comfortable where\nthey were, they agreed not to stir until the next day.  They still had\nan abundance to eat; and besides, they had not yet explored the walled\ngarden, very shady and inviting, which they could see from the kitchen\nwindows.\n\nIn the afternoon, then, they all invaded the walled garden, where they\nfound much to gladden their hearts.  The juniper trees were quite\nperfect; and the flowers, though they had been so long neglected,\nseemed really to have been waiting for them.  The different kinds of\nflowers each had a bed of their own; the larkspur and poppies and\ncoxcomb and hollyhocks and columbines, and each seemed to lean forward\nand say, \"Come and see us!  Come and see us!\"  And so the children made\nthe rounds of the garden, visiting each variety of flower.\n\nAt last they sat down on the stone benches which surrounded a fine\ngrass-plot with an ancient sundial in the middle.\n\nMany of the children were content to sit quietly and rest; but Little\nBo-Peep and Little Boy Blue, being very young, and naturally rather\nplayful, could not restrain themselves, and they took their places on\nthe grass and began to play.  They looked simply charming: Little\nBo-Peep being dressed in a white frock with short sleeves having any\nnumber of flounces.  She wore a Gainesborough hat of delicate\nmaterials, with cherry ribbons ending in tassels of the same color\nhanging down behind.  She also wore red slippers having buckles set\nwith rubies.\n\nLittle Boy Blue was arrayed in blue rompers, cunningly made of one\npiece, and very ample.\n\nIt seemed that they had long resided close to each other, and had often\nplayed together; and now, almost without any pre-arrangement at all,\nthey began a game which consisted of singing and dancing.\n\n[Illustration: They began a game which consisted of singing and\ndancing.]\n\nThey stood facing each other on the grass, and Little Boy Blue began\nthe following song:\n\n  \"Oh, Little Bo-Peep, when the sun is shining\n    And the birds are up in the tree;\n  When there's never a cause for sad repining,\n    And we're happy as we can be;\n  When breezes blow through the vale and hollow,\n    And glade and garden and glen,\n  Oh, whom does your heart in its rapture follow,\n    And whom do you think of then?\"\n\n\nLittle Bo-Peep listened, smiling, and with her head a little to one\nside, until the stanza was finished, and then she replied as follows:\n\n  \"Oh, Little Boy Blue, when the skies are beaming\n    And my heart is happy and free,\n  When the green grass smiles, where it lies a-dreaming,\n    And the birds are up in the tree,\n  I lift my eyes to the arch above us,\n    So soft and tender and blue,\n  And I know that the earth and the sky both love us,\n    And I tenderly think of you,\n        Of you,\n    Of you, of you, of you!\"\n\n\nThen they both bowed graciously and began their dance.  They advanced\ntoward each other so that the palms of their right hands touched; and\nthen they receded, moving obliquely; and then advanced again, touching\nthe palms of their left hands.  A moment later they had clasped both\nhands, holding them high, and were hopping about in a circle.\n\nBut it seemed that the song was not yet finished; and presently they\nwere facing each other again, and Little Bo-Peep sang the following\nstanza:\n\n  \"Oh, Little Boy Blue, when the star of even\n    Hangs low o'er the lonely hill,\n  When the night-wind sighs through the fields of heaven\n    And the world is lonely and still;\n  When you almost fear that the birds and flowers\n    Will never waken again,\n  And you lie and dream through the long night hours,\n    Oh, whom do you dream of then?\"\n\n\nNo sooner had Little Bo-Peep completed her stanza than Little Boy Blue\nresponded:\n\n  \"Oh, Little Bo-Peep, from my friendly pillow\n    I gaze at the even star;\n  Then I sail away on a gentle billow,\n    Where dreaming and visions are.\n  And never a doubt nor a fear assails me\n    The whole of the long night through,\n  And the welcomest dream of all ne'er fails me,\n    For I constantly dream of you,\n        Of you,\n    Of you, of you, of you!\"\n\n\nThey repeated their dance at the end, and then, blushing and stumbling,\nthey made their way to one of the stone benches and sat down.\n\nAll the children applauded generously; but during the silence which\nfollowed, Grettel remarked:\n\n\"For my part, I like games that have kissing in them.\"\n\nCinderella merely gazed at her, in reply to this, with lifted chin and\nhalf-closed eyes.\n\nThen Hansel observed: \"If you'd leave it to me, I'd prefer sitting at a\ntable where there'd be something left after you'd filled yourself as\nfull as a drum.\"\n\nPrince Arthur seemed to feel that Hansel and Grettel had struck a wrong\nnote, and he said, \"Upon my word, it seemed to me that the singing and\ndancing weren't half bad!\"\n\n\"They were just perfect,\" declared Everychild.\n\n\"That's really what Arthur meant,\" interposed Will o'Dreams.\n\nThere was almost unanimous agreement then that the song and dance had\nbeen very well done, the strongest testimony of all being offered by\nthe little black dog, who approached Little Boy Blue and asked, quite\nas plainly as if he had spoken, to have the entertainment prolonged.\n\nBut as the entire band hoped to be on their way early in the morning,\nit was agreed, after a time, that a good night's sleep was the best\nthing they could have; and as the sun had now set, they went into the\nhouse, and each chose a place in which to spend the night.\n\nThe clamor of voices soon sank to a sleepy murmur; and presently there\nwas such silence that the house might indeed have been a haunted one,\njust as the village superstition held it to be.\n\nThere would have been nothing more worth recording in the adventures of\nthat day but for the fact that Everychild, at the last moment, felt an\nirresistible desire to explore the attic of the old house.  And this he\nundertook to do, after all his companions had, as he supposed, fallen\nasleep.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nAN ENCOUNTER IN THE ATTIC\n\nHe moved stealthily about the upper story of the house, trying this\ndoor and that.  He did not wish to disturb his companions, for he knew\nthat a sound in the dark would startle them, especially after they had\nbeen told of the rumor that the house was haunted.\n\nThe first and second doors he tried opened into empty rooms.  The third\nand fourth, into closets.  But the fifth opened to a narrow staircase;\nand ascending this on tip-toe, he presently found himself in the attic.\n\nIt was a very solemn place.  The eaves sloped down closely as if they\nwere a sort of hood, meant to hide something evil.  There was one\nwindow at the gable end: a broken window, with fragments of glass lying\nabout it.  The light of the moon penetrated the window, making the\nfragments of glass glisten, and forming a pale avenue across the dusty\nfloor.\n\nThere were old chests here and there, all mysteriously closed--perhaps\nlocked.  There were old garments hanging in obscure places.  They made\nyou think of persons lurking there in the dark.  Outside the broken\nwindow an owl in a dark tree hooted mournfully.\n\nEverychild crossed the attic cautiously.  Timbers creaked beneath his\nfeet.  The smell of old, abandoned things arose.  And suddenly he\nstopped short and clinched his hands.  Beyond a pale haze of moonbeams\nhe saw some one sitting on one of the closed chests.\n\nThat form in the gloom was perfectly motionless; and for a time\nEverychild tried to convince himself that here was simply another\ndelusion--that certain old articles of furniture or clothing had been\nso arranged as to suggest the form of a human being.\n\nBut no, this could scarcely be.  Every outline of the figure was too\nreal.  And besides, the person on the chest now moved slightly.\n\nEverychild forced himself to advance a step, to move to right and to\nleft, that he might learn something of that person who sat there in\nmysterious silence.  And suddenly he found himself smiling and relaxing.\n\nIt was Will o'Dreams who sat there!\n\nThe giant had seen him at last, and he called out pleasantly, \"You here\ntoo, Everychild?  Come and sit down.  There's room for two here on this\nold chest.\"\n\n\"I didn't know you were here,\" said Everychild.\n\n\"It's the very sort of place I like to visit,\" was the reply.  \"If ever\nyou miss me, you've only to hunt for an old attic near by, and there\nyou'll find me.\"\n\n\"I wonder why?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"Ah, I scarcely know.  But a great many lovely persons come up into old\nattics--mostly children, or else quite old men or women--and I think\nthey like to find me at such times.\"\n\n\"And do you never frighten them?\"\n\nThe giant laughed.  \"I've no doubt I do, sometimes.  But mostly I am of\nreal help to them.  The old things that are left in attics seem somehow\ndifferent if I'm about.  Some day you'll understand what I mean.  And\nthe sounds you hear in an attic, and the thoughts that come to you,\nseem pleasant in a way, as long as I'm near by.\"\n\nEverychild realized immediately that this was true; for at that very\nmoment the owl in the dark tree outside the broken window hooted--and\nthe sound was not at all what it had been only a little while ago.\n\n\"It's fine to hear the owl make a noise like that, isn't it?\" he asked\nof the giant.\n\n\"Is it?\" replied Will o'Dreams with a kindly taunt in his voice.\n\"Suppose you tell me why.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure I can.  But you know it makes you think of so many\nwonderful and strange things.\"\n\n\"Of what?\" persisted the giant.\n\nEverychild pondered a little, and then it seemed that he saw a sort of\nvision.  \"It makes you think of dark forests,\" he said, \"--the very\nmiddle of them.  And it makes you think of old ruined castles, with\nnothing living about them any more but the ivy climbing up on the\nbroken walls.\"\n\nThe giant's eyes were shining in the gloom.  \"And what else?\" he asked\nsoftly.\n\n\"And then you think of the castles as they used to be, long ago.  When\nthere were bright lights in them, and knights and ladies, and music,\nand maybe a--what do you call them?--a harper to come in out of the\nstorm to sit beside the fireplace and tell tales.\"  He seemed unable to\nfill in the picture more completely, but Will o'Dreams began where he\nhad left off:\n\n\"And do you know what is true, as long as you think of the knights and\nladies?  It means that they are still living.  That's what thinking of\nthings means--it means keeping them alive.  Most persons die when their\nchildren are all dead: at the very latest, when their grandchildren\ndie.  But as long as you think of knights and ladies, and picture their\nways, why, that keeps them alive.  It means that they will never die.\nThat is, as long as there are owls to hoot.\"  He added with a hidden\nsmile, \"And as long as I idle about in old attics.\"\n\n\"It is very strange,\" said Everychild, not clearly understanding.\n\n\"It just needs a little thinking about,\" declared the giant.  \"And it's\nnot only in attics that I'm able to help.  That old garden we played in\nto-day . . . do you know what would happen, if certain persons came\ninto it while I was there?\"\n\nAs Everychild did not know, the giant continued: \"They would see the\ncolumbine growing; and straightway they would think of a poor lady\nnamed Ophelia; and then they would think of Shakespeare; and then they\nwould think of the river Avon; and then they would think of lovely\nEnglish meadows, and then they would think of the sea--because the Avon\nfinally reaches it, you know--and then they would think of ships, and\nthen of Columbus, and then of America, and then of millions of new\ngardens where the columbine of England found new homes.\"\n\nEverychild was trying to see the pictures as they passed; but he could\nnot quite keep up.  And after Will o'Dreams had finished he remained\nsilent, going over it all in his mind.\n\nBut the giant interrupted him.  \"There,\" he said, \"we ought not to stay\nup too late.  You know we want to make an early start to-morrow.\"\n\nEverychild's heart prompted him to say impulsively, \"And you'll go on\nwith us?  You'll not get tired and leave us on the way?\"\n\nThe giant pondered a moment, and then he replied: \"No.  My search will\ncarry me as far as your search is to carry you.\"\n\n\"You haven't told me what it is you're searching for,\" said Everychild.\n\nThere was a long silence, and then the giant replied: \"I scarcely liked\nto speak of it; yet if we are to be friends, perhaps I may do so.  The\ntruth is, I am seeking my mother.\"\n\nEverychild felt a little thrilled.  He recalled what Mr. Literal had\nsaid of the giant--how he had been driven away from home because of the\nevil he had done.  He had refused to believe what Mr. Literal had said;\nyet what was the meaning of what the giant was now saying?\n\n\"I lost my mother long ago,\" the giant resumed.  \"I can't explain just\nhow it was.  But there were many who mistrusted me in my childhood and\nbelieved I wasn't up to any good.  They said I was made up of lies.\nThey drove me from their houses and closed their doors on me.  And my\nmother and I got lost from each other.  From that day to this I have\nhad bad days when I've feared that all my enemies ever said about me\nwas true.  But it is only occasionally I have a bad day.  You see, I\nremember my mother's ways so well that it seems almost as if she were\nwith me, much of the time.  But I know well that if I could find her,\nnever to lose her again, I should never have another evil thought.  And\nso it is that I constantly dream of finding her, and go about the world\nseeking her.  And I never see a beautiful lady without stopping to ask\nmyself in a whisper, 'Can it be she?'\"\n\n\"Was she so beautiful, then?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"Ah, I cannot tell you how beautiful.  So straight and tall and brave,\nyet with a great tenderness a little hidden from sight.  Her lips\ncurved a little, mournfully, as if she had been singing a sad song; yet\nthere was an expression in her eyes--a soft, calm expression, which\nmade everything seem right when you looked into them.  There are even\nnow moments when I feel . . . I scarcely know how to explain it to you.\nIt's as if she were near by, whispering, and I couldn't think just\nwhere to look for her.\"\n\n\"I'll help you to look for her,\" said Everychild heartily.  And then\ntogether they quit the attic and went cautiously down the narrow\nstaircase.\n\nOnly a few moments later they had taken their places among their\ncompanions and had fallen asleep.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nTHE END OF A HUNDRED YEARS\n\nThey all resumed their journey at sunrise, carrying with them a fair\nsupply of food which the townspeople had brought; and by noon they had\ncrossed the boundary into a different kingdom, where the cruelties of\nthe wicked King John were wholly unknown, and where Prince Arthur\nbecame almost the gayest member of the band.\n\nLate in the afternoon they came within sight of another castle; and as\nthey were now journeying through a very lonely region, they decided\nthat it would be a wise plan to apply at this place for accommodations\nfor the night.\n\nSomewhat to their dismay, however, they discovered upon drawing nearer\nthat the castle was surrounded by a forest so dense that not even the\nsmallest member of the band could penetrate between the trunks and\nbranches.  Nor did there seem to be a road for them to take, the only\nthing resembling a road having been abandoned so long that it was quite\novergrown.\n\nIt was here that Will o'Dreams found opportunity to render a most\nimportant service.  Without the slightest spirit of boasting he stepped\nforward, saying, \"Follow me!\"\n\nTo the amazement of all, the trees parted so that a way was opened and\nthe entire band now found it quite easy to follow in the footsteps of\nthe giant.\n\nTogether they all began to climb the hill in the direction of the\nmysterious castle.\n\nBut while the children are wending their way up the hill, let us take\nleave of them for a time, that we may have a peep at one of the rooms\nof the castle.\n\n\nThe room has been described as \"the finest room in a king's palace,\"\nand while this would seem a somewhat exaggerated statement, there were\nat least many evidences of elegance to be noted.\n\nRich tapestries hung about the walls.  They presented certain stories\nfrom mythology in the form of pictures traced in golden threads.  There\nwere golden candlesticks, and even the chairs and tables were of gold.\n\nAt the far side of the room, which was very large, there appeared to be\na sort of alcove before which a damask curtain was closely drawn.\n\nBefore this curtain sat a lady of honor.  She seemed a very great\nperson indeed, her dress being inferior only to that of a queen in\nrichness and elegance.  She had a double chin and a very large stomach,\nwhich in her day were considered quite suitable to a person in her\nposition.\n\nSomewhat out of keeping with the golden furniture and the rich\ntapestries was the great fireplace containing an almost commonplace\ncrane and kettle, and bordered by irregular areas of smoked wood and\nstone, indicating that the ventilation of the room needed looking after\nin the worst way.\n\nIn addition to the lady of honor there were other persons in the room:\na scullion, or cook, with rather comical features and a red nose, who\nsat before the fireplace; a line of guards in mailed armor who were\nstationed around the walls, finely erect, with spears held\nperpendicularly, their ends resting on the floor; and a herald, or\nmessenger, standing just inside an inner door.\n\nBut--wonderful to relate--the lady of honor, the scullion, the guards\nin mail, and the herald, were all sound asleep!  Moreover, they had all\nbeen sound asleep for precisely one hundred years.\n\nI should add that two other individuals already known to us were in the\nroom: the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal.  The Masked Lady held in her\nhands a time-glass precisely like an hourglass in every respect, save\nthat it was designed to measure the passage of a full century.  The\nlast grains of sand were just falling when she looked up, startled,\nbecause Mr. Literal had broken the stillness by yawning.  He was\nplainly bored, and he was looking about the room at the various\nsleepers as if he were thoroughly tired of them all.\n\nAfter Mr. Literal had finished his yawn a truly unearthly silence\nreigned.  There wasn't so much as the ticking of a clock or the falling\nof embers in the fireplace.  Silence, a long, long silence.\n\nThen a distant door opened and closed sharply.  There was the muffled\ntramp of many feet.  And then--what have we here?  Everychild entered\nthe room!\n\nHe was followed instantly by Cinderella, Hansel and Grettel, Will\no'Dreams, Prince Arthur, Tom Hubbard, Little Bo-Peep, Little Boy Blue,\nthe children of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe (who numbered some\nforty boys and girls all told), and last of all, the little black dog.\n\nThere was necessarily a good deal of bustle and noise while the members\nof the band were entering; but when Everychild had had time to look\nabout him he was smitten with silence, and all his companions suddenly\nbecame as quiet as mice.\n\nThen Everychild perceived the Masked Lady, and for once he was very\nglad to see her.  He approached her eagerly, if somewhat timidly.\n\n\"What is this strange place?\" he whispered.\n\nAnd as the Masked Lady did not reply to him, he turned to Cinderella.\n\"Am I--are we--dreaming?\" he asked.\n\nCinderella reassured him promptly.  \"We are not dreaming,\" she said.\n\"I have seen other places as beautiful.  The ballroom where I\ndanced--it might have been in this very castle.  Yet how strange it is\nto find them all asleep!\"  And she gazed about the room with amused\nwonder.\n\n\"And the way the forest opened as we climbed the hill,\" added\nEverychild, \"just as if we were expected.  Did anything like it ever\nhappen before?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady remarked almost dreamily: \"When Everychild seeks the\nplace where the Sleeping Beauty lies, forests always open and the\nsteepest paths are easy to climb.\"\n\nEverychild caught at the name.  \"The Sleeping Beauty--I have heard of\nher,\" he said.  And he added, \"Is she here?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady did not reply in words, but the obscure smile on her\nlips was very significant.\n\nIt was Cinderella who clasped her hands in sudden ecstacy and cried,\n\"She must be here.  A place so lovely--it couldn't have been meant for\nany one else!\"  She spoke with such elation that all the other children\nlooked at her with beaming eyes.\n\nEverychild asked in perplexity--\"But if she be here . . . ?\"\n\n\"You haven't forgotten, have you?\" asked Cinderella.  \"She was doomed\nto sleep a hundred years, until the prince came to waken her with a\nkiss.\"\n\n\"And is she still waiting?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"I haven't a doubt in the world that she is still waiting.\"\n\n\"She is always waiting,\" said the dreamy voice of the Masked Lady.\n\n\"But not--not here?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"There's never any telling where you'll find things,\" replied\nCinderella.  \"We might look at least.\"\n\nNo one had observed that the Masked Lady had straightened up with a\nvery dramatic gesture.  _The sand in the glass she held had all fallen_!\n\nNo sooner had she spoken than Cinderella advanced to the alcove hidden\nby the damask curtain.  The other children watched her intently.  She\nbarely touched the curtain--yet it was drawn aside.  And everything\nwithin the alcove became visible.\n\nThere was a perfectly beautiful bed, all trimmed with gold and silver\nlace, so it is said.  And on it reposed a slight, queen-like young\nlady, fully dressed, yet sound asleep.  Her cheeks were delicately\ntinted, indicating perfect health.  Her lips were slightly parted; her\nbosom rose and fell tranquilly.  A naked little Cupid knelt on her\npillow, his wings aloft, his eyes intently inspecting her closed\neyelids.\n\nEverychild seemed really to lose control of himself.  He gazed, and\nthen he advanced in a manner so determined that Cinderella drew back,\nleaving him alone with the sleeper, save for the Cupid on the pillow\nand the lady of honor asleep in her chair.\n\n\"It _is_ the Sleeping Beauty!\" exclaimed Everychild.  Somehow or other\nhe knew positively.  He knelt down beside her and gazed at her\nreverently.  Slowly and gently he reached for the hand nearest him.\n_He took it into his own; and then--he never could have told what put\nit into his head to do so!--he shyly kissed the beautiful hand_.\n\nAnd the Sleeping Beauty?  She sighed and opened her eyes.  For an\ninstant she gazed dreamily at the ceiling.  Then she sat up, placing\nher feet on the floor.  With wonder and delight she leaned a little\nforward, her eyes fixed on Everychild's.\n\nAnd then she said, in a voice which would have set the birds to\nsinging, if there had been any near by--\n\n\"Is it you, my prince?  You have waited a long while!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nTHE AWAKENING\n\nNo sooner had the Sleeping Beauty spoken than a number of things began\nto happen.\n\nThe other sleepers in the room opened their eyes.\n\nThe lady of honor was the first to attract attention.  She stirred and\nplaced her fingers against her lips in a very elegant manner to\nsuppress a yawn.  Then she exclaimed very audibly: \"Bless my soul--I\nmust have dropped off for a moment!\"\n\nThe sergeant of the guard was seen to open his eyes and glare very\nsuspiciously at the spear-bearer nearest to him.  He exclaimed, upon\nnoting the stupid expression in the spear-bearer's eyes--\"Ah-ha!  I\ncaught you asleep, did I?\"\n\nTo which the spear-bearer replied nervously, \"Not to say asleep,\nexactly, I just closed my eyes because a bit of smoke got into them.\"\n\nThe scullion by the fireplace opened his eyes and sat quite still for\nan instant, all his attention concentrated upon the others in the room,\nat whom, however, he was afraid to look.  It was his aim to conceal\nfrom them the fact that he had been asleep.\n\nThe kettle on the crane in the fireplace began to sing cheerfully and\nan appetizing odor arose.  Flames began to dance in the fireplace.\n\nThe lady of honor with affected testiness addressed the Sleeping\nBeauty.  \"It's high time you were stirring, I should say,\" was her\ncomment.  \"It seems to me we are all becoming quite indolent!\"\n\nThe Sleeping Beauty would not respond to her mood of bustling levity.\nShe gazed wonderingly and patiently at the lady of honor; and then\nturning her attention to Everychild she said in a dreamy voice--\n\n\"I think I shall rise!\"\n\nShe offered her hand to Everychild, and he assisted her to her feet.  I\nam informed that \"he took care not to tell her that she was dressed\nlike her great-grandmother, and had a point band peeping over a high\ncollar.\"  My own belief is that perhaps he scarcely noticed this.\n\nThey moved forward, the Sleeping Beauty maintaining an air of\ndreaminess, while Everychild simply could not remove his eyes from\nher--she was so perfect!\n\nAll the others in the room were silent, gazing now at the Sleeping\nBeauty, and now at Everychild.\n\nAnd just at that moment there were evidences of new life in the\nadjoining apartments.  You could hear some one playing on a spinnet.  A\nsentry on a distant wall called the hour.  Lords and ladies could be\nheard laughing together.  And then there was a great to-do; the king\nand queen, father and mother of the Sleeping Beauty, entered the room!\n\nThere was now a respectful silence for you!  You could have heard a pin\ndrop.  Little train-bearers came behind the king and queen.  Then came\nlords and ladies, and then the court chamberlain, and at last a few\nothers whose functions I cannot even name.\n\nThe king was pleased to speak presently.  \"And so you have finished\nyour nap, daughter?\" he said.\n\nThe Sleeping Beauty stood before him with a radiant face.  \"And only\nobserve who it was that awakened me!\" she replied, inclining her head\ntoward Everychild.\n\nSaid the king: \"He is the guest whose coming was foretold, no doubt.\nLong ago it was written that one should awaken you and claim you as his\nbride.\"\n\nThere was general delight and amazement at this: so frankly manifested\nthat the humblest of Everychild's companions lost all sense of caution.\nThe smallest son of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe actually\nundertook to stand on his head, while the little black dog ran here and\nthere barking with the utmost freedom.\n\nIn the general excitement Mr. Literal took occasion to remark to the\nMasked Lady: \"But--dear me!--it's all fiction of the most extravagant\ncharacter--the account of the Sleeping Beauty and the rest of it!\"\n\nBut the Masked Lady smiled in her puzzling way and said: \"When you\nwould find the truth perfectly told, you will always find it in a\nstory.  It is only facts which lead us hopelessly astray.\"\n\nHowever, the Sleeping Beauty was speaking again.  She was replying to\nwhat her father had said.  \"That's very nice, I'm sure!\" she said.  And\nshe turned to Everychild with a blissful smile.\n\nIt seemed the king did not mean that any time should be lost.  He\nturned majestically to the sergeant of the guard.  \"Go,\" said he, \"and\nbid the trumpeter summon all within hearing to assemble in the chapel.\"\nThen, to those who were assembled in the room, \"The wedding shall take\nplace without delay.  Let us to the chapel.\"\n\nThe sergeant disappeared, and almost immediately there was the sound of\na bugle blowing on the castle wall.\n\nThe king and queen went out, followed by their train-bearers, pages and\nothers.\n\nEverychild hesitated;  but the Sleeping Beauty, with a reassuring nod,\ntook his hand, and they followed.\n\nThere was a moment's confusion among Everychild's companions; but they\nspeedily got themselves into line.  Will o'Dreams led them; and there\nfollowed Hansel and Grettel, Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue, Prince\nArthur and Tom Hubbard, the children of the Old Woman who lived in a\nshoe, and last of all the little black dog.\n\nOnly Cinderella, with a certain strange quiet upon her, remained in her\nplace, while the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal stood regarding her.\n\nWords broke from her tremulously: \"And so it is to be the Sleeping\nBeauty!  I had hoped . . . there was to be one who would find my\ncrystal slipper and come for me . . .\"\n\nShe had scarcely uttered the words when the Masked Lady stepped forward\nand touched her face with gentle fingers and kissed her brow.\n\nA happy transformation occurred in Cinderella's face.  She stood gazing\ninto vacancy a moment, her eyes shining.  An instant later she dashed\nfrom the room, to be present at the wedding ceremony.  Already, in the\ndistance, the strains of the Lohengrin march could be heard.\n\nThe Masked Lady would have gone into the chapel then, but she was\ndetained by Mr. Literal, who said irritably: \"That march--you know it's\nreally quite modern.  Wagner, isn't it?\"\n\nThe Masked Lady replied with a certain repression: \"Beautiful things\nare never modern--yet always modern.  They have existed always, from\nthe dawn of time, waiting for the proper occasion for their use.  Come,\nI must be present at the wedding of Everychild.\"\n\n\"Still,\" said Mr. Literal drily, \"I should say there have been many\nweddings at which you were not present.\"\n\nBut she was not listening.  She had gone; and he smilingly followed.\n\nThe sound of music gradually died away.  There was a distant murmur of\nvoices.  Then again the music sounded, louder, with a quality of\ntriumph in it.  Louder and louder it sounded.\n\nThe bridal party returned!  Flower girls ran before, scattering\nflowers.  Everychild and the Sleeping Beauty appeared, followed by the\nking and queen.\n\nA great throng entered the room: lords and ladies, the companions of\nEverychild, led now by Cinderella.\n\nThe bride and the bridegroom were surrounded.  They were acclaimed in\nloud voices.  They were lifted aloft.  The little black dog barked\nmadly.\n\nSuch a scene had never been witnessed before.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nTIME PASSES\n\nThe same room in the castle--the room where the pomp and ceremony had\nbeen.\n\nBut it was empty now.  The flowers which had been scattered on the\nfloor had been swept away.  Silence reigned.\n\nPresently two doors opened: one on the right, the other on the left.\nBut though the doors opened, not a sound was to be heard, and for an\ninstant no one appeared.\n\nAnd then--some one was coming.\n\nFather Time entered at one of the doors.  He walked slowly and quietly\nacross the room.  He carried his scythe and sand-glass.  He glanced\nneither to left nor right.\n\nHe went out at the other door!\n\n\n\n\nPART V\n\nARGUMENT: ON HIS WANDERINGS EVERYCHILD BETHINKS HIM OF HIS PARENTS, AND\nDISCOVERS THAT THOUGH HE HAS SEEMED TO LOSE THEM, HE HAS NOT REALLY\nDONE SO.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nWILL O'DREAMS REPORTS A DISCOVERY\n\nWe have seen how time passed in the castle where Everychild and his\ncompanions had come to dwell.  Now let us see what followed.\n\nOn a beautiful summer day Everychild and the Sleeping Beauty sat in the\ngreat room of the golden furniture and the fire place and the alcove.\nThey occupied two little golden chairs near the middle of the room.\nThey were rocking placidly and saying nothing to each other.  Now they\nrocked backward and forward together, and again they rocked quite\ncontrariwise.\n\nAnd what have we here?  Close to the Sleeping Beauty there was a tiny\ncradle, all of gold.  And in it--well, you could see tresses of\nwonderful golden hair, and the most marvelous blue eyes which would\nopen and shut, and a complexion which was simply perfect.  Just now the\neyes were closed.\n\nAt a little distance from them there was a spectacle most beautiful to\nbehold.  This was afforded by the Masked Lady and the task in which she\nwas engaged.  She stood near an immense open window, beside the most\nbeautiful dove-cote ever seen.  It was silver and green, topping a\npillar of gold.  It had several compartments, all containing pure white\ndoves.  These were engaged in bringing or carrying messages.  At\nintervals doves entered the open window and perched on the Masked\nLady's arms.  These were placed in the cote and others were removed\nfrom the cote and carried to the window, from which they flew away and\ndisappeared.\n\nWhile the Masked Lady was engaged in this task it was to be noted that\nthere was a very sad expression in her eyes.  She was turning over\ncertain things in her mind.\n\nThe truth is that Everychild had been married just a year, and she was\nthinking how it would be necessary before long for him to be conducted\nto the grim Mountain of Reality.  She knew that this was a very\nterrible experience, or that it would seem so just at first; and that\nis why there was a sad expression in her eyes.  She knew very well,\nhowever, that the matter could not be put off very much longer.\nIndeed, she had been able to detect an occasional shadow in\nEverychild's eyes which proved that he was already beginning to see the\nformidable Mountain of Reality in the distance.  I should also explain\nthat the messages she was sending and receiving with the aid of the\nwhite doves all had a bearing upon the plan she had in mind of taking\nEverychild, ere long, upon the most difficult journey he was ever to\nmake.\n\nAlthough silence reigned in the room, there was the murmur of\nchildren's voices in the distance, occasionally rising to a joyous\nshout.  The children were clearly at play in some invisible court; and\nwhen their cries were particularly joyous, Everychild and the Sleeping\nBeauty glanced at each other and smiled indulgently.\n\nAt length the voices of the children became inaudible; and a moment\nlater Cinderella entered the room.  She stood an instant, her hands on\nher hips and an almost impatient expression in her eyes; and then she\napproached Everychild and the Sleeping Beauty.\n\nEverychild glanced up at her with a slightly patronizing smile.  \"Well,\nCinderella?\" he asked.\n\nShe put her hair back rather energetically and exclaimed--\"Oh, I'm\nbored.  That's the honest truth.  Those games out there--they _do_ get\nso tiresome.  And Grettel is such a simpleton, really.  She keeps\nsaying 'Think of something else for us to play, Cinderella--think of\nsomething else.'  She never thinks of anything herself.  Neither does\nHansel, nor any of them.\"\n\nShe sighed and glanced back the way she had come, and it was to be\nnoted that the sound of playing had not been resumed.\n\nIt was the Sleeping Beauty who replied.  \"Never mind, Cinderella,\" she\nsaid.  \"You know I realize quite well what it is to be bored.\"  She had\nspoken gently; and now she smiled with a certain playfulness.  \"The\nprince with the missing slipper will find you soon enough.  You've only\nto be patient, and the day will come when you'll seldom be bored any\nmore.\"\n\n\"I don't know, I'm sure,\" said Cinderella; and with perfect candor she\nadded, \"Aren't _you_ bored?  You look it: sitting there as if you\nhadn't a single thought in your head.\"\n\nThe Sleeping Beauty laughed.  \"You dear, foolish thing!\" she replied.\n\"Bored?  The idea!  I'm perfectly happy.  Of course, there are\ntimes . . .\"  She broke off and meditated, and actually sighed.  \"Come,\nwe'll go and look at the goldfish,\" she added briskly.\n\nThey went away together, taking cradle and all.  All of a sudden they\nseemed as energetic as sparrows.  They seemed for the moment really\nindifferent to Everychild, who remained in his chair alone.\n\nWhen they had gone he leaned forward in an elegant yet somewhat\ndejected attitude, his hands clasped between his knees.  Then he arose,\nshrugging his shoulders as if a burden were clinging to them, and\nturned toward the Masked Lady.\n\n\"What are you doing?\" he asked wonderingly.\n\nShe set free a fine dove, which immediately disappeared through the\nwindow.\n\n\"I am getting ready for a very important journey,\" she said.\n\nHe watched her intently.  Presently he said, in a strange, abashed\ntone, \"You seem a very nice, kind lady, after all!\"\n\nShe did not reply to this, because a dove came in at that instant and\nshe busied herself placing it in its compartment in the cote.\n\nHe continued to regard her, though he was now studying her face, rather\nthan taking note of her work with the doves.  \"Sometimes,\" he continued\nfalteringly, \"I have a wish to speak to you--I mean, to tell you of\nthings which I cannot speak of to others.\"\n\n\"I have tried always, Everychild, to be close to you,\" she said.\n\nFor an instant it seemed to him that it would not be difficult at all\nto speak to her of what was in his heart.  And he said, \"You know I--I\nam not very happy.\"\n\nShe replied to this with gentle mockery.  \"Not happy?\" she said; \"and\nyet there are many to play with you, and none to turn away from you\nwith coldness and indifference--any more.\"\n\nHe became strangely still.  What did she mean by that?  He had never\ntold her about his childhood; he had never mentioned his parents to\nher.  Whom could she be, that she should know so many things without\nhaving to be told?  Or was she speaking only of the present, without\nreference to the past?\n\n\"My playmates are all friendly,\" he said; \"but you know I have come far\nfrom home . . .\"\n\nWhen he faltered she added, \"But have you found what you started out to\nfind?\"\n\nHe was a little embarrassed.  \"What I started out to find?\" he echoed.\n\"I don't seem to remember----\"\n\n\"You know you started out to find the truth,\" she said.\n\nHe nodded.  \"So I did,\" he declared.  \"But so many things have\nhappened, especially since I found the Sleeping Beauty, and it's been\nso nice, most of the time . . .\"\n\n\"Still, you shouldn't give up, you know,\" she said.  \"Maybe that's the\nreason why you're not quite happy--because you haven't found the truth.\"\n\nHe sighed heavily.  She hadn't comforted him, after all.  And somehow\nhe could not tell her that what ailed him was that he was heartsick to\nsee his parents again.  He remembered the pretty sitting room at home,\nand the way his father and mother used to look; and it seemed to him\nthat if he could go back they would perhaps be happy to see him.  But\nhe could not speak of all this to the Masked Lady.\n\nHe was greatly amazed when she said in a low tone: \"It would be the\nsame thing over again if you didn't find the truth before you went\nback.\"\n\nIt was quite as if he had spoken his thoughts to her aloud!\n\nHe drew away from her uneasily; but even as he did so she received\nanother dove which fluttered in at the window.  And as she read the\nmessage it had brought she said musingly--almost as if she were reading\nthe message, and not speaking to him at all--\"_Everychild shall find\nhis parents again!_\"\n\nHe felt that he almost loved her when he heard those words--almost, yet\nnot quite.  His heart beat more lightly.  He wondered where all the\nchildren had gone.  He listened for their voices.\n\nIt was then that an outer door opened hurriedly and the giant, Will\no'Dreams, entered the room.  Perceiving Everychild, he stood an instant\nwith clinched hands and uplifted face; and then he cried out in a loud\nvoice:\n\n\"Everychild!\"\n\nAnd Everychild replied, with a little of that kindly condescension\nwhich a married man feels toward a youth, \"Well, my boy?\"\n\nThe giant cried out with elation, \"Everychild, I have found her house!\"\n\n\"You have found her house?\" echoed Everychild in perplexity.\n\n\"My mother's house!  I have seen it again!  These many days, while you\nhave been happy here, I have made countless journeys far and near.  I\nmade a final search.  I could not give her up.  And now I have found\nher house--the house where I dwelt when I was a child!\"\n\nThis was good news, indeed.  Everychild knew how the heart of the giant\nhad yearned for his mother.  He smiled delightedly.  \"Ah, and so you\nhave seen her at last!\" he cried.\n\n\"I have not seen her--no,\" confessed the giant.  \"They would not allow\nme to enter--they who surround her.  I was but one, and they were many;\nand they are cruel and relentless.  But now that I have found the place\nwhich shelters her I shall not give up until I stand face to face with\nher again.  Dear Everychild . . .\"\n\n\"Well?\" said Everychild, seeing that his friend found it very hard to\ncontinue.\n\n\"I have come now to tell you we must part.  I could not remain away,\nremembering that I had not bade you farewell.  But now I go to watch\nfor her until she emerges from her door, or until her followers\nslumber . . .  Oh, the obstacles shall be as nothing.  Only rejoice\nwith me that I am to meet her again at last!\"\n\nBut Everychild's heart became heavy.  \"And we must part?\" he asked in a\nlow voice.  \"Please do not say so!  We, who have become like\nbrothers . . . is there no other way?\"\n\n\"There is no other way,\" replied the giant.  \"Do not doubt that I too\nshall grieve because of our parting; but after searching for her in\nvain all these years . . .\"\n\nBut Everychild, after a moment's reflection, cried out resolutely,\n\"There is another way.  I shall go with you!  And after you have found\nher, who knows----\"\n\nThe giant was now happy indeed.  \"You will go with me?\" he cried; \"you\nwill leave all that makes you happy here and go with me into possible\nperils?  Then make haste--oh, make haste, that we may be on our way.\"\n\nAnd speaking thus the giant rushed eagerly from the room.\n\nFor a moment Everychild stood lost in thought.  It was the Masked Lady\nwho aroused him.  \"It will be but a short journey,\" she said; and it\nseemed to Everychild that she spoke sadly.  \"Go with him, and be sure\nyou shall make a speedy return.\"\n\nHe would have gone, then.  Already he was putting great energy into his\nfeet, that he might overtake the giant.  But the Masked Lady detained\nhim.\n\n\"A word,\" she said.  \"Be patient with him, and comfort him, whatever\nmay befall.  And Everychild--take this with you.\"\n\nAs she spoke she produced quite magically the slim, shining sword she\nhad lent him once before.  \"Carry this,\" she said.  \"When it is drawn a\ncertain door which would otherwise remain shut will open wide.  And be\nof good cheer.\"\n\nHe took the sword mutely, wonderingly.  How should it cause a door to\nopen?  he mused.\n\nWhen he had reached the outer door he turned to look again upon the\nMasked Lady.  She was smiling a little oddly--almost sadly, he thought.\nShe was holding forth her hands toward the open window.  She was not\npaying heed to him now.  White doves were entering at the window and\nalighting on her hands.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nTHE HIDDEN TEMPLE\n\nEverychild paused in the court long enough to explain to the Sleeping\nBeauty and his friends that he was setting forth on an important\nmission with Will o'Dreams; and then the two companions set forth from\nthe castle and began the descent of the road which led down into the\nvalley.\n\nSoon they came upon the road which they had formerly traveled--the Road\nof Troubled Children.  And before the day was spent they had covered a\ngreat distance, since the giant, in his impetuous mood, set a very fast\ngait.\n\nToward sundown they turned a little away from the road and entered a\nforest of a nature so confusing and forbidding that Everychild paused\nin dismay.  But the giant kept straight on, saying he was very sure of\nthe way, and after a moment's halt, Everychild followed him.\n\nIn the very heart of the forest they paused, and Everychild's eyes\nopened wide with wonder: for before them was an amazing sight.\n\nOn a fair plateau a temple of white marble stood forth brightly in the\nlight of the setting sun.  It was the most perfect temple ever seen.\nIt had a broad flight of steps, at the top of which there were pillars\nwhich almost resembled glass, so great was their purity.  In the midst\nof the pillars there was a broad door set with precious gems.  Here and\nthere were alabaster urns.\n\nNo one was stirring about the temple.  The door was closed.  But at a\nlittle distance, on a perfectly kept lawn, there were numerous square\nblocks of marble, and on these certain extraordinary-appearing persons\nwere seated.\n\nWe may as well know at once that the temple was the Temple of Truth;\nand the persons who sat on the blocks of marble, or pedestals, were\nknown as Truth's devotees.  The names of the devotees were graved on\nthe pedestals, and a few of those which Everychild could see were Mr.\nBenevolent Institution, Dr. Orthodox Doctrine, Mrs. Justitia, Mr.\nInflexible Creed, Mr. Professional Politician and Mr. Policeman.  And\nof course there were many others.\n\nThey were all dressed presentably enough, save that Mrs. Justitia's\nrobes were clearly of very cheap material, and the bandage about her\neyes had slipped down so that one eye could be seen peeping out\nsharply; while Mr. Policeman had a really unsightly red nose, which\nmade his blue uniform seem rather absurd.\n\nThe devotees of Truth sat staring straight before them.  They seemed\nsleepy, and they continually nodded their heads like mandarins.  Mr.\nPoliceman was the only member of the group who did not nod continually.\nHe was fast asleep!  He stirred occasionally when a fly circled about\nhis nose.  On these occasions he waved his hand smartly before his face.\n\nThe oddest-appearing member of the group was, perhaps, Mr. Professional\nPolitician.  He wore a tiny mask with a smile like a cherub's painted\non it.  He kept touching the mask, as though he feared it might fall\noff; and when he did so it could be seen that he had an enormous,\ncoarse hand which did not match the false face at all.\n\nJust the same, the temple was very beautiful; and Everychild and the\ngiant stood gazing at it with reverence.\n\nThe giant was the first to speak.  \"This is the place,\" he said.  \"And\nbeyond that door, inside the temple, is where my mother is hidden.\"\n\nEverychild nodded.  Presently he thought to ask: \"And all those--those\n. . .\"  He really could not think how to refer to those persons on the\npedestals.\n\nBut the giant understood.  \"We needn't pay any attention to them just\nnow,\" he said.  \"They'll neither see nor hear us as long as we just\nstand here.  It's only when we try to get into the temple that they\nbecome really terrible.\"\n\n\"And what do they do then?\" asked Everychild.\n\n\"Various dreadful things.  Mr. Benevolent Institution would lock us up\nwhere we'd see the sky only now and then and where we'd have to wear\nuniforms, and all act alike and eat alike, and go to sleep and wake up\ntogether.\"\n\nEverychild shuddered and moved closer to his companion.  \"Don't speak\nso loud, please,\" he said.  \"And what about the others?\"\n\n\"Mr. Orthodox Doctrine is one of those fellows . . . well, he used to\nburn you, you know; but now he freezes you.\"\n\n\"And the others?\"\n\n\"It's not easy to explain.  The lady--Mrs. Justitia--has a habit . . .\nI hate to say it, but she's forever asking you how much money you've\ngot, and whether you've got any influential friends (if you could only\nknow what she means by that!)--questions of that sort, which a nice\nperson wouldn't ask you.\"\n\n\"It's all very strange,\" whispered Everychild.  \"And the one with the\nred nose?\" he asked finally.\n\n\"Mr. Policeman.  He isn't really as bad as the rest of them.  All he\ndoes is hit you over the head with a club and turn you over to the\nlady--to her with the bandage that's always slipping off.\"\n\nThere was a silence, and then Everychild remarked: \"Still, it's not\nplain why they're all sitting around here where your--your mother . . .\"\n\n\"It's just a pose,\" said the giant.  \"What I can't understand is why my\nmother doesn't denounce them all.  They do no end of harm.  And it was\nthey who drove me away from her long ago.  They said I was a dangerous\ncharacter, and they all conspired to ruin me.  They gave me a bad name,\nso that everybody was willing to give me a kick in passing--all save a\nfew gentle hermits and shepherds and persons like that.  And now--now I\ntruly fear they've got my mother locked up in her temple, so that she's\nhelpless.  That's what we've got to do: we've got to get her out.  Even\nif we have to break down the doors.  Though of course they'll all try\nto destroy us if they know what we're about.\"\n\nFor the moment Everychild forgot the sword he carried--which the Masked\nLady had given him--and forgot also what the Masked Lady had said to\nhim about a door which would not open save in the presence of that\nsword.  He said nervously, \"Hadn't we better go away and come back some\nother time?\"\n\nBut his companion replied resolutely, \"I shall not go away.  I shall\nwait until they are all asleep--or perhaps until she opens the door and\nappears.\"\n\nOne more question entered Everychild's mind.  \"But if they all hate you\nso,\" he said, \"why do they all sit there now as if they did not care?\"\n\n\"I doubt if they recognize me,\" explained the giant.  \"It's been so\nlong since they saw me.  They probably think we're mere idle travelers.\nYou know there are many such; and few of them really try to enter the\ntemple.\"\n\nAnd so they stood and waited, and the devotees continued to nod like\nmandarins.  It seemed indeed that they would never go to sleep.  And it\ncame to pass at last that the giant could no longer restrain himself.\nTo be within reach of his lost mother, and not to be able to speak to\nher--it was too much!\n\nHe began to advance silently, leaving Everychild where he stood.  He\nproceeded, step by step, in the direction of the temple.  And it began\nto seem that he might reach the temple door without being seen.\n\nIndeed, he actually did so.  He laid his hand on the door of the\ntemple.  The door would not open!  But instead, something quite\ndreadful happened.\n\nIn the back row of devotees sat one whom the giant had not yet seen.\nIt was Mr. Literal, seated on a pedestal marked with his name.\n\nThis person started up with a scream of fury.  He had recognized the\ngiant.\n\n\"Up!\" he cried to his fellow-devotees.  \"The evil son has returned.\nUp, all of you, and defend the temple!\"\n\nThe others were all thoroughly aroused.  They turned their eyes toward\nthe temple and perceived the giant standing at the very door!\n\nThey sprang toward him with great fury.  They quickly surrounded him.\nIt seemed that he must really perish before their wrath.  And\nthen--then what happened?\n\nEverychild could not stand idle and see his friend perish.  He\nbethought him of the sword the Masked Lady had given him.  He drew the\nsword quickly and with a loud cry he dashed toward the temple steps.\n\nHe gained the side of the giant; and then--what is this?  _The devotees\nall turned to cowering wretches_!  They put forth their elbows to ward\noff imaginary blows.  They slunk back like base cowards.\n\nThey had seen the sword in Everychild's hand, and they had recognized\nit!\n\nMoreover, before the gleam of that sword the temple door swung open.\n\nThe giant dashed into the temple to greet his mother.  He became for an\ninstant invisible.  The devotees were now slinking back to a safe\ndistance.  Everychild, without ever lowering his sword, smote them all\nwith his glance of scorn.\n\nAnd then the giant reappeared.  But oh, what a change had taken place\nin him!  He held his hands aloft in an agony of despair.  He staggered\ndown the temple steps, followed by the wondering Everychild.\n\n\"What is it?\" asked Everychild in distress.  \"What ails you?\"\n\nThey were drawing away from the temple now, and the devotees were\nthronging back to the open door.  They surrounded it, closing it with\nfrenzied hands.\n\nThe giant drew apart, giving no explanation to Everychild just at\nfirst.  But standing alone and heart-broken he lifted his hands high.\n\n\"_She is gone!_\" he cried in a hoarse, agonized whisper.\n\nThe devotees lifted their voices in a triumphant chorus--\n\n\"She is within!\"\n\nBut the giant, his hands hanging limp now, and his eyes staring into\nvacancy, repeated in the same hoarse voice:\n\n\"She is gone!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nHOW EVIL DAYS CAME UPON THE CASTLE\n\nAs they left the temple behind them, on their return journey,\nEverychild could not help thinking that it was a very good thing to\nhave found that the giant's mother was not in the temple.  To his way\nof looking at it, this argued that she had escaped from the terrible\ncreatures who surrounded the temple.  And if so, why should they not\nhope to find her elsewhere?\n\nBut when at length he suggested this to his companion, the giant only\nreplied, scarcely above a whisper, \"I fear she has been slain.\"\n\nAnd so Everychild walked by the giant's side, glancing at him anxiously\nfrom time to time, and seeing despair written so plainly on his\ncountenance that he did not venture to utter another word.\n\nWhen they approached the great entrance to the castle there was hurried\nrunning to and fro on the ramparts, about the doors and windows, and in\nthe halls.  Eager eyes looked down from the watch-tower.  But soon all\neagerness changed to alarm.  They could all see that the giant had been\nsmitten dreadfully: that the proud yet kindly head had been brought low.\n\nSilence reigned in the great reception hall when the giant entered.\nHis friends all waited for him to speak, to relate the tale of his\nadventure.  Many eyes rested upon him curiously, yet pityingly.  And\nwhen Everychild, following the giant into the hall, placed a warning\nfinger on his lip, the wonder grew and deepened to consternation.\n\nFor an instant the giant stood among them, his trembling hands clasping\nhis head.  He saw none of his friends.  Then he suddenly tottered.  He\nwould have fallen had not certain of the king's courtiers sprang to his\naid.  They helped him to a chair; and there he sat with lowered eyes\nlike one who would never lift his head again.\n\nThe physician was sent for in haste.  He came and looked down upon the\ngiant.  He questioned him, but received no reply.\n\nThen he looked upon those who surrounded him and touched his own\nforehead significantly.  \"The malady is here,\" he said.  \"This is no\ncase for herbs and cordials.\"\n\nThey put the giant to bed and sent for the greatest physicians in the\nkingdom, including those who were skilled in ministering to the\nafflictions of the mind.  There were muttered conferences and all the\npomp which even the most cunning doctors knew how to exercise.  Later\nthere were bickerings and words of scorn and hatred among the healers.\nBut it seemed they could not agree upon a remedy.  One suggested this,\nthe other urged that; but the giant remained indifferent to it\nall--unconscious of it all.  And his condition was not bettered in the\nleast.  On the contrary, he sank deeper and deeper into the despondent\nmood which held him.\n\nThe others discussed his strange affliction.  It seemed that many of\nthem had known of the giant's great longing to find his mother again.\nFor days and days he had been quitting the castle early in the morning\nand going upon far and dangerous journeys in the hope of finding her.\nHe had seemed quite confident of finding her.  No wonder that he should\nbe smitten hard, now that he had been obliged to abandon his search.\n\nAt last a new, alarming report spread through the castle: the giant was\nno longer remaining silent, but was addressing all who came within\nhearing of him.  But he was speaking only evil and false words.  He was\ndepicting the whole world as a place of shame and cruelties.  He was\npainting everything black.\n\nEverychild listened to him speaking in this strain on one occasion, and\nthe effect upon him was unbelievable.  Everything seemed different to\nhim.  The golden furniture in the finest room in the castle no longer\nseemed to be of gold.  It was merely painted yellow, he thought.  Even\nthe Sleeping Beauty seemed changed in his eyes.  Her face did not seem\nso perfect, after all!  There were moments when she seemed even\ncommonplace, not to say dreadfully old-fashioned.  He fought against\nthis state of mind, but all in vain.\n\nSeeing how things were going, the physicians urged that the giant's\nfriends be prevented from seeing him any more.  They were even for\nremoving him to the castle dungeons and confining him.  But so great\nwas the outcry against this extreme measure that if was not carried out.\n\nNevertheless, as one day after another passed, it was plain that\nsomething must be done.  The giant's voice could be heard far and near,\nuttering evil words and pretending that things were quite unlike what\nthey really were.  And all this had an effect upon all his former\ncompanions.\n\nCinderella was heard to say with a fearful sigh: \"I am sure the prince\nof the crystal slipper will never find me.  It is absurd to suppose so!\"\n\nHansel was heard to say, \"Oh, yes, I get enough to eat now: but who\nknows how soon I shall be required to go without eating?\"\n\nGrettel said, \"It's all very well, but no one can tell me we'll come to\nany good in this place surrounded by a forest in which there may be all\nkinds of monsters!\"\n\nTom Hubbard maintained that his little black dog had never had so many\nfleas since the day he was born, and that it was all the fault of the\nold castle.\n\nLittle Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue were seen to weep together and to\nconfide in each other the fear that they would some day have to return\nto the folds to find that the wolves had become much larger and more\nferocious than they had even been before.\n\nEven the gentle Prince Arthur became moody and remarked to Everychild\non one occasion, \"There's always a good deal of visiting among kings,\nand we may expect some one to see me here sooner or later and carry\nword to King John.  And then there will be no further liberty for me.\"\n\nFor the time being everybody forgot all about the Masked Lady, who sat\nalone much of the time, and regarded this person or that with steadfast\neyes through her mask.\n\nTo speak quite plainly, the Masked Lady had been putting off to the\nlast possible moment a step from which she could not help but shrink.\n\nThe time had come for Everychild to take that dread journey to the\nMountain of Reality.  She had given him as many days of grace as she\ncould possibly permit.  And at last she said solemnly:\n\n\"It shall be to-morrow.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nTHE MOUNTAIN OF REALITY\n\nThe next day the giant, standing out on the rampart where every one\ncould see and hear him, was shouting--\"The world is full of evil!  The\nworld is full of evil!\"  And his friends thought sadly of that day, now\nonly a little while ago, when it had been his wont to say that the\nworld was full of good--that, indeed, everything was good if you looked\nat it in the right way.  But suddenly he stopped shouting and lifted\nhis head.\n\nIt was the first time he had been seen to lift his head in a number of\ndays, and it seemed very good to see him do this.  He seemed to be\nlistening intently, and also with a certain faint, dawning hope.\n\nAt the very same time Everychild lifted his head also and listened, but\nas he did so he clasped his hands with dread.\n\nAnd also Prince Arthur and Cinderella and Hansel and Grettel and the\nother children lifted their heads and listened.\n\nThey had all heard some one playing on a pipe; and the sound, though\ndistant, was very mysterious.  It drifted up from the forest road.  The\nnotes continued to be heard, one by one, in the same strange,\nfascinating way.\n\nIt was the giant who first began to move in the direction of the sound\nof the pipe.  He did this at first as though reluctantly; but as he\ncontinued on his way he began to walk more alertly, and presently he\nseemed very eager.\n\nAnd then Everychild found it impossible to withstand that sound and he\ntoo moved away in the direction from which the notes of the pipe came.\nAnd the Sleeping Beauty, with a dreamy smile on her lips, walked with\nhim; and Cinderella followed a few steps behind.  And then the others,\none by one, fell into line: Hansel and Grettel, the sons and daughters\nof the Old Woman who lived in the shoe, Prince Arthur, Little Bo-Peep,\nLittle Boy Blue, and last of all, Tom Hubbard and the little black dog.\n\nThey all marched down the mountain road, away from the castle; and\npresently they began to catch glimpses of a figure in the distance,\nmoving on before them elusively, and leaving behind a trail of\nenchanting notes.\n\nThey turned into the Road of Troubled Children, and far away they\nmarched.  Far away they marched, but the figure on ahead still eluded\nthem--save that they heard the notes of the pipe clearer and more sweet\nand strange.\n\nBut at last the figure that led the way could be seen more clearly, and\nEverychild murmured to himself; \"It is the Pied Piper!\"  And when this\nthought had occurred to him he could scarcely repress his excitement.\n\nThe figure in the road before them had now halted, though the dulcet\nnotes went on and on.  It was a truly fascinating person, to say the\nleast--with a quaint costume, including a funny cap.  But presently\nEverychild, coming closer to the piper, drew in his breath shortly.\n\nThe player on the pipes was the Masked Lady!  She might have been\nthought to be dreaming as she lifted and lowered her beautiful fingers\nwhere the openings in the pipe were and went on playing.  Occasionally\nshe glanced back to make sure that the children were all there.\n\nAnd then something very strange occurred.  The ranks of children were\naugmented by other children.  Along the road they came dreamily and\ntook their places in the procession.  They were Little Red Riding-Hood\nand the Babes in the Wood (the latter brushing withered leaves from\ntheir garments) and other children whose stories are known to be sad\nones.  And there was Aladdin again!--carrying his lamp, and smiling a\nlittle mischievously.\n\nThen the Masked Lady, in the guise of the Pied Piper, resumed her\nmarch, facing straight ahead, and moving with grace and majesty.  And\nthe entire procession began to move.\n\nThe children scarcely gave a thought to where they were going.  Nor did\nthey give a thought to going back.  They were moved by a power which\nthey did not understand to keep step with the music of the pipe.\n\nOn and on they marched--on and on.  They passed through silent forests\nand across beautiful plains, up gentle hills and through sheltered\nfells.  And the melody of the piper became so strongly accented that\nthey could not help keeping step, even if they had wished not to do so.\n\nAt last, however, they came to where there was a great dark mountain\nahead; and Everychild thought to himself, \"Now we shall have to turn\nback, since it would be too much for us to ascend that high mountain.\"\n\nBut the Masked Lady continued to march straight toward that dark\nmountain--which was, as she well knew, the fearful Mountain of Reality.\n\nThe other children all beheld the mountain and they looked at one\nanother with questioning eyes, as if each were asking the other, \"Do\nyou not consider it a terrible mountain?\"  Still, they never ceased to\nkeep step with the music.\n\nThey could see the mountain clearly now.  It was cold and bleak and\nrose into the mists of the sky.  There were great chasms in its sides,\nand precipitous heights and walls which it would have seemed impossible\nto scale.  It seemed of a frightful hardness, too.\n\nMost terrible of all, wild hunters were to be seen all the way up to\nthe summit, and terrible beasts; and also one could catch a glimpse of\nsolitary individuals who were climbing to the highest visible points,\nand some of these were falling back and hurting themselves terribly.\n\n\"We cannot advance another step,\" thought Everychild; for now they were\nindeed at the very base of the mountain.\n\nAnd then a miracle occurred, just when it seemed that the Masked Lady\nwould be compelled to turn back.\n\nThe mountain opened!  There was a cavity as large as an immense\narchway.  Through this the Masked Lady advanced; and then the entire\nband of children marched straight into the heart of the mountain.\n\nEverychild, looking back, perceived that the mountain had closed again\nafter the last child had entered, so that they were now all prisoners!\n\nThat was indeed a dreadful moment; for the heart of the Mountain of\nReality was a great gloomy cavern in which everything seemed quite\nterrible.  Nor would there have seemed any way of escaping from the\nplace.  The light was but dim, so that objects were only obscurely\nrevealed.  But it could be seen that the top of the cavern was very\nhigh, while the walls were steep and formidable.\n\nA weird sound arose.  The high walls echoed it, the dark ceiling flung\nit back.  It went trembling into far places and returned, shattered yet\nwith its weird quality unabated.\n\nIt was the children weeping!\n\nIt seemed their hearts would break, because of the dreary place into\nwhich they had been brought.  And during this time the Masked Lady only\nstood and looked upon the children silently.\n\nEverychild could scarcely believe his own eyes, and he began a more\ncareful examination of the cavern.\n\nHe came upon water in half-hidden pools.  \"But,\" he reflected, \"we\ncould not drink of this water if we were thirsty.  It is quite black.\"\n\nHe examined the paths which led from one place to another.  \"We could\nnot walk in these paths,\" he mused, \"because they are too rough.\"\n\nHe examined the natural stairways which led to the upper chambers of\nthe cavern.  \"But we could not climb those stairways,\" he decided,\n\"since they are too steep.\"\n\nHe came upon beds which had been spread for himself and his companions.\n\"We could not sleep in these,\" was his conclusion, \"because they are\ntoo hard.\"\n\nAnd as he continued his examination he became aware that he was\nstanding close to Will o'Dreams; and something in his friend's manner\ncaused him to pause and observe him more closely.\n\nBecause of the fulness of his heart he put forth a hand and touched his\nfriend's arm.  The arm trembled.  And then the sad truth became known.\nThe scenes he had been called upon to witness here in the cavern had\nbeen too much for Will o'Dreams.  He had been stricken with blindness!\n\nIt did not seem strange to Everychild that he should wish to run\nimmediately and tell the Masked Lady of what had befallen the giant.\nSurely he must have felt a certain confidence in her, after all!\n\nBut when she had been informed of the giant's plight she only said,\n\"Let us be patient.\"\n\nAnd then she began to speak to all the children, calling their\nattention to this matter or that.  \"Do not be afraid to drink of the\nwater,\" she said.  \"It seems black.  That is only because it is deep.\"\n\nAnd drinking of the water, they found it to be sweet and refreshing.\n\n\"Do not hold back from wandering in the paths,\" she added.  \"Your feet\nwill take them easily.\"\n\nAnd wandering in the paths they found that they were not so rough as\nthey had imagined them.\n\n\"Do not falter if you wish to climb the stairways,\" she continued.\n\"Only try them.\"\n\nAnd they tried them, and found that their limbs responded joyously to\nthe effort they were putting forth.\n\n\"Do not shrink from sleeping in the beds which have been provided,\" she\nsaid at last.  \"They may surprise you.\"\n\nAnd lying down in the beds which had seemed so uninviting, the children\nwere wooed to slumber.  They were really comfortable beds, after all!\n\nStrangest of all was the fact that Will o'Dreams went about with the\nother children, guided by the sound of their voices, and by an\noccasional touch of Everychild's hand; and one after another he tested\nthe pool and the paths and the stairs and the beds.\n\n\"Ah, how good it is to have them!\" he said at last with a great sigh;\nand soon after he had sunk into deep and refreshing slumber.\n\nNor were the others long in following his example.  They had traveled\nfar; and it seemed good to rest now, especially as they believed they\nmight look forward to happy and wonderful experiences on the morrow.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nTHE MASKED LADY'S SECRET\n\nToward morning Everychild had a dream.  In his dream his mother came\nand stood near him, and looked at him wonderingly and sadly.  And\nthen--in the dream--his father could be seen, standing apart and slowly\nshaking his head.\n\nIt seemed that there was a cry of joy in his throat, and that he ran to\nembrace his mother.  He felt that he should weep for joy when he flung\nhis arms about her neck and felt her face touching his.\n\nBut then he awoke, and his parents were not there: but only the great\nchamber in the heart of the mountain, and all the other children rising\nfrom their beds, eager to begin a new day.\n\nHe could not rid his mind of the vivid dream, nor his heart of the\nstrange softness it had brought.  And as soon as he could do so he\nsought the Masked Lady, his intention being to inquire of her what his\ndream had meant.\n\nShe stood waiting for him, as it seemed, and he approached her with\nincreasing eagerness.  And now he perceived that she was no longer\nwearing the dress of a piper, but had on the soft white dress in which\nhe had first beheld her, and wore a jewel in her hair.\n\nHe had the strange thought that she might be really beautiful if only\nshe would remove the mask which gave her face that distant expression\nand almost hid her eyes.  And he remembered, all of a sudden, how he\nhad often been helped by her, and how she had always been near, as if\nshe wished to help him even more, and how she had comforted him that\nnight when he had seen a star fall by assuring him that he was _a\nlittle bit of God_.\n\nHe began speaking to her with a new feeling of constraint.  \"I dreamed\nof seeing my mother and father last night,\" he said.\n\nShe smiled faintly.  \"I know,\" she replied.  \"All the other children\nhad the same dream.  That is what all children dream of here in this\nchamber.\"\n\nHe opened his eyes very wide.  How could she know what all the other\nchildren had dreamed, since it did not appear that they had told her of\ntheir dreams?  But he continued: \"They seemed a little sad,\" he said.\n\"My mother's eyes were troubled, and my father shook his head.\"\n\n\"Yes, Everychild?\"\n\n\"And I wondered if I might not see them again, really.  It would be\ngood to see them again; and you know I have come so far . . .\"\n\nThe Masked Lady replied: \"Nothing delights me so much as to have\nchildren and their parents find each other.  That is my highest\ndream--to bring together the parents and children who have lost each\nother.\"\n\n\"And shall I find them?\"\n\n\"I think you are on the way even now to find them--perhaps sooner than\nyou dare to hope.\"\n\n\"If I could find them now,\" continued Everychild, \"I think I could\nwillingly give up my search for--for the truth.  It seemed a wonderful\nthing to seek for when I began, but I am not anxious to do so any more.\"\n\nThere was a new note in her voice as she replied, \"Truth is very close\nto those who still seek, but who have ceased to be anxious.\"\n\nHe did not know why the words should have thrilled him so.  If he could\nfind the truth, after all, and still have his parents again!  He\npermitted his eyes to rest on the Masked Lady's rather forbidding face.\nAnd then he began impulsively--\"Dear lady! . . .\"\n\n\"Yes, Everychild?\" she returned gently.\n\nHe sought eagerly for the right words.  \"I did not know it myself for a\nlong time,\" he said, \"But I think I know now . . .\"\n\n\"I am waiting, Everychild!\"\n\nHis voice almost failed him.  \"There was such a long time that I\nthought I feared you a little,\" he continued, \"--when it seemed better\nto stand quite apart from you and look at you from a distance.  But\nyou've been so good a friend that now at last . . .\"\n\n\"At last, Everychild?\"\n\nHe timidly sought her hand; and having found it he stood with downcast\neyes.  \"At last I know I--I love you!\"\n\nStill standing with downcast eyes he could not know how radiantly she\nappeared before him.  He could not see how the mask fell from her face\nat last.  The Masked Lady no more, but Truth herself in all her glory!\n\nShe cried out triumphantly, \"Lift up your eyes, Everychild, and look at\nme!\"\n\nHe lifted his eyes slowly, gaining courage little by little.  And when\nhe looked upon her an expression of amazement and swiftly dawning\ndelight was in his eyes.\n\n\"You are--oh, it is you!\" he cried, fearing even yet to name her.\n\n\"It is I,\" she said.\n\nAnd he was not fearful of her now.  Truth at last--and yet she was one\nwho had been near him a long time and had often aided him.\n\n\"But you are beautiful!\" he cried at last in wonder and delight.\n\n\"I am always beautiful to those who love me,\" she said.\n\n\"But oh, dear lady,\" he cried, \"could you not have helped me to know\nyou in the beginning?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" she replied, \"each soul must find me for itself.\"\n\nThen she put her arm about him and comforted him for long days and\nnights of wandering.\n\nThey were interrupted soon by the other children who came forward\neagerly.  They too had come to tell their dream; and Everychild watched\njoyously while Truth--to him the Masked Lady no more--reassured them by\nsaying that even now they were on their way to find their parents.  And\nthe children gathered together in groups and agreed that they all\nwished very much to see their parents again.\n\nAnd then Everychild listened attentively while Truth declared to the\nassembled band: \"If you would really find your parents again, and be\nhappy with them, you must promise one thing only: that you will love\nthem better than you love yourselves.\"\n\nAnd all the children, having forgotten many of the hardships they had\nundergone at home, replied almost in one voice--\n\n\"We promise!\"\n\nThen after they had remained silent a little while, wondering how they\nwere to find their parents, from whom they had wandered so far, they\nbegan to inquire how so difficult a thing could be brought about; and\nthey were informed that it was true that one great obstacle still lay\nin the way of their return to their parents, but that perhaps it would\nbe possible to remove that obstacle.\n\nThey drew apart, whispering among themselves and looking beamingly into\none another's faces.\n\nThey were startled suddenly by a great voice, crying out in anguish--\n\n\"Lady--dear lady!\"\n\nIt was the giant, who had remained apart a little because of his\nblindness.  He was now approaching Truth, his hands outstretched.\n\n\"I am here,\" she said.  And he came and knelt by her side.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nWILL O'DREAMS MAKES A DISCOVERY\n\nFor a moment the giant remained silent, his heart so torn by doubt and\nfear that he could not speak.  But at length he said: \"I have heard how\nyou would restore the children to their parents . . .\"\n\n\"I hope to do so,\" replied Truth.\n\nHe cried out in sorrow, \"Yet none may restore me to my mother, whom I\nhave lost.\"\n\n\"Be not so sure of that!\" she said.\n\nWhereupon hope was kindled in his heart.  He pondered, feeling that he\nwas in the presence of one who was very wise and kind.  And then he\nsaid:\n\n\"And I have heard Everychild say that you are beautiful.\"\n\nShe did not reply to this.  She waited for him to continue.\n\n\"You will forgive me for speaking what is in my heart,\" he said at\nlength, \"But my own mother, from whom I was driven by cruel, stupid\npersons long ago, was very beautiful.  And I have always dreamed that\nsome day I should encounter a beautiful lady and that she should prove\nto be the mother I lost.\"\n\nShe replied to him in a low voice: \"And by what sign or token should\nyou recognize her, if you were to encounter her again after all these\nyears?\"\n\n\"Alas, what hope is there for me, now that I am blind?  While I could\nyet see I hoped to know her by her calm glance, by the serenity that\nnever was troubled by any evil chance . . .  I cannot say; but I never\nwould believe that I should not be helped to recognize her.\"\n\nShe meditated a little.  And presently she said, as she leaned closer\nto him, \"And did you never give her anything--a token, perhaps--that\nshe might have treasured and kept, by which you might recognize her?\"\n\n\"_I_ give _her_ anything?\" he exclaimed incredulously.  \"It was she who\ngave, not I.  What was there I could have given her?  And yet . . . I\nremember once when I was a child I brought her a pretty trifle, and her\neyes grew bright and she drew me to her and laid her cheek against my\nhair.  And there were other things--but they were only trifles, after\nall.\"\n\n\"Trifles?\" she echoed passionately, \"trifles?\"\n\nHe began, \"There was----\"  And then he broke off.  \"I am ashamed to\nsay,\" he said.  \"It was nothing.\"\n\nShe reflected earnestly.  And at length she said, with new eagerness in\nher voice, \"But if you ever find your mother, and fail to know her, and\nshe shall tell you what those trifles were--you shall know that it is\nshe.  Is it not so?\"\n\n\"It is true,\" he said.\n\nA rapturous smile began to illumine her face.  \"Trifles, dear child!\"\nshe cried.  \"Should you call them trifles?--One was the first song ever\nsung; and one was the first tale ever told----\"\n\nShe paused, because he had clasped his hands together in ecstacy and\nseemed almost to cease to breathe.\n\n\"And one,\" she continued, \"was the first picture; and one----\"  Her\nvoice became all but inaudible, \"--one was the first prayer.\"\n\nHis voice arose in a great shout of triumph.  \"You are she!\" he cried\n\"You are indeed she!\"\n\nAnd he reached forth and clasped her in his arms.  At last they were\nunited again.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\nHOW ALADDIN MADE A WISH\n\nAnd now the time had come for Truth to determine whether, indeed, the\nchildren might be reunited with their parents--for there yet remained\nthe need of exacting a pledge from the parents themselves.\n\nBut the parents were far away and in many places, and it must needs be\na difficult task to consult them all to learn if they were ready to\nenter upon a just and binding covenant.\n\nEverychild drew near, after Truth and the giant had been reunited, in\nthe hope of being able to help in the next great step which lay before\nthem.  However, there was something else to be attended to first: There\nwas the pleasant duty of congratulating the giant, not only upon being\nreunited with his mother, but also upon having regained his sight.  For\nit was now apparent that a great happiness, following after a period of\ndark distress, had enabled Will o'Dreams to see again perfectly!\n\nAfter this unexpected consummation had been gratefully discussed, there\nwas much to say about the great reunion which they all had at heart.\n\nEverychild was of the opinion that it might prove all but impossible to\nretrace their steps over the way they had come.  And the other\nchildren, one after another, agreed that it was too much to hope that\nthey might find their way back over the devious paths by which they had\ncome.\n\nIt was then that they were all aware that one of their number had\nremained apart and was now regarding them almost piteously.\n\nIt was Aladdin!--Aladdin, holding his accursed lamp to his bosom, and\ngazing at them with beseeching eyes.\n\nEverychild called to him to join them; and as Aladdin came up he said,\n\"And so, Aladdin, you still have your lamp.  And that means, of course,\nthat you have not yet wished for _the best thing of all_.\"\n\n\"Alas, no,\" replied Aladdin.\n\nEverychild continued: \"We are anxious to find our parents again, but we\nwere thinking how difficult this would be, because they are in many\nplaces, and far away.\"\n\n\"Nothing could be simpler,\" declared Aladdin; and he held forth his\nlamp and regarded it with a grim smile.\n\nEverychild leaned forward with great eagerness.  \"Tell me what you\nwould do,\" he said.\n\n\"I would make a wish,\" said Aladdin, \"that here and now, all the\ntroubled children and their parents might be forever united.\"\n\nThe children were all nearly spellbound.  Could such a strange wish be\nmade successfully?  They marveled, yet they were scarcely incredulous.\nThey came in an awed silence and formed an audience before Aladdin,\neven the little black dog coming and sitting up before a group of\nchildren where he could see everything that took place.\n\nThere was a solemn silence at last.  Everychild's eyes were filled with\na kind of fearful rapture.  But Aladdin's confidence was unshaken.  He\nsmiled a little mockingly, as if he were greatly enjoying the solemn\nsituation.\n\nThe great test began.  Aladdin rubbed his lamp before the eyes of all,\nso that they could see precisely what took place.\n\nThere was one brief interruption when Hansel's voice could be heard in\nan impatient whisper bidding Grettel refrain from moving her head so\nthat he could not see.  But silence was immediately restored.\n\nAgain Aladdin rubbed his lamp, and smiled upon his audience almost\ntauntingly.\n\nA third time he rubbed his lamp, this time with a stern, expectant\nexpression in his eyes.\n\nThere was a rumbling sound; it seemed to grow almost dark.  And then a\ngenie appeared.  The genie made a low salaam and awaited instructions.\n\nSaid Aladdin, \"I wish that here and now all the troubled children and\ntheir parents may be forever united.  Conduct us to the Hall of\nParents, and assemble the mothers and fathers!\"\n\nThe genie disappeared.\n\nAn instant later--wonder of wonders!  There were echoing noises at one\nend of the great chamber.  What had seemed to be a wall of stone proved\nto consist of scores of great gates, standing tier upon tier.  And the\ngates began to open and fold back.  One after another they opened and\nfolded back, revealing an immense, brilliantly-lighted space of\nincomparable grandeur.\n\nIt was the Hall of Parents!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nTHE HALL OF PARENTS\n\nThe children arose and stood in their places breathlessly when that\nscene was revealed to them.  Never had they seen such bright lights, so\nhigh a ceiling, so many splendid decorations.\n\nThere was not a single parent in sight, it is true; but this did not\ndisturb their joy, since it was plain that any number of parents might\nbe near by, waiting for a wand to be waved, or a wish to be made.\n\nOn the far side of the Hall there was a great semicircle of painted\ncurtains, like those in a theater, with only narrow spaces between\nthem.  On these curtains were painted scenes and figures of men and\nwomen.  Above each curtain a pennon was flying.\n\nFrom some invisible place strains of music floated, and the music was\nof the kind which does not make the heart either heavy or light, but\nsimply tender.\n\nThe children began to advance into the Hall of Parents, gazing with\nwondering eyes at the painted curtains, which held for them a strange\nfascination.  As they drew nearer they perceived that in the middle of\nthe semi-circle of curtains there was an opening, with soft draperies\nbefore it, as if it were here that the parents would presently enter.\n\nThen the pictures on the curtains began to become clear, and there were\ncries of joy and amazement from the children.  One picture showed the\nmother and father of Everychild.  The mother sat at a table, her face\nburied on her arms.  The father stood helplessly beside her, his hand\non her shoulder.\n\nAnother picture showed the wicked King John of England sitting gloomily\non his throne.\n\nAnother showed the mother and sisters of Cinderella seated before a\nfireplace, silent and forlorn.  Near them, and gazing at them\nchallengingly, was the figure of a gallant young man with a crystal\nslipper of great delicacy in his hand.\n\nAnother showed the parents of Hansel and Grettel, the father clasping a\nloaf of bread to him and gazing abstractedly before him.\n\nAnother showed Old Mother Hubbard standing before a cupboard and\nlooking into it intently.\n\nAnother showed the unique residence of the Old Woman who lived in a\nshoe, with the Old Woman herself standing dejectedly near the gaping\nopening in the toe.\n\nOthers showed certain not easily recognizable ladies and gentlemen:\nperhaps the parents of Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue and others.\n\nAnd high above all these homely pictures, which were exaggerated just\nenough to be really fascinating--like the pictures at the side-show of\nthe circus--fluttered the soft pennons.\n\nThe curtains themselves wavered deliciously, so that you could guess\nsomething was going on behind them.  The music which made your heart\ntender never ceased to flow from its invisible place.\n\nCloser and closer the children pressed, still scarcely daring to\nbreathe, and feeling certain that their parents would not be much\nlonger withheld from them.  They were becoming more and more eager.\nEven the little black dog manifested the greatest excitement.\n\nAnd at last Truth stepped forward purposefully and took her place just\nin advance of the band of children.  She had never seemed more\nimpressive.  Her white dress gleamed in the bright light, and the gem\nin her hair was of every color one could imagine.\n\nShe began to speak.\n\n\"I very seldom make a speech,\" she said.  \"Scarcely once in a hundred\nyears do I make a speech in public.  But if you will bear with words\nfor once, instead of deeds--upon my assurance that deeds shall\nimmediately follow--I have this to say to you:\n\n\"It is a very great thing when children find their parents again after\nlosing them; but the last good of all, and perhaps the greatest, is\nwhen parents find their children whom they have lost.\n\n\"You who have assembled here have found your parents at last.  This I\nknow, not because you have come here into their presence--for you must\nknow they are behind yonder painted curtains, which we shall presently\nlift--but because you have learned to know the need of them, and\nbecause you have come in very truth to love them.\n\n\"We shall see now if your parents have found you.\"\n\nThe children caught at that saying, which seemed wholly obscure to\nthem, and wondered what meaning could lie behind it.  But in the\nmeantime Truth had turned toward the curtains.  She gazed at them one\nafter another in an intense manner, and finally she stepped close to\nthe one whereon the likeness of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe was\npainted.\n\nIn a commanding voice she cried out, \"Old Woman who lived in a shoe,\nappear!\"\n\nThe curtain moved; it was thrust forward a little at one side, and the\nOld Woman who lived in a shoe stepped out!\n\nTo her Truth spoke calmly yet with a certain majesty.  \"I have come,\"\nsaid she, \"to restore your children to you, to be yours forever--but on\none condition.\"\n\nThe Old Woman lifted her sad eyes and gazed in amazement at Truth.  \"To\nthink,\" she blurted out, \"that they should have run up against the like\nof you!  How may I have them again to keep?  Speak--there's a good\nsoul!\"\n\nThe reply came in a ringing tone: \"You must promise to love your\nchildren better than you love yourself.\"\n\n\"I do--oh, I do!\" cried the Old Woman, the tears starting to her eyes.\n\nWhat happened then?  At a sign from Truth the children went spinning\ntoward the Old Woman.  She drew the curtain out a little so that they\ncould slip into the hidden space behind it.  One after another they\neagerly disappeared, and then she followed them.\n\nWhen they had all disappeared, Truth moved along to the next curtain,\non which a portrait of Old Mother Hubbard was painted.  She called out\ncommandingly, \"Old Mother Hubbard, appear!\"\n\nAs in the former case, the curtain was pushed out at one side, and you\ncould tell that some one was coming.  Old Mother Hubbard appeared!\n\nTo her Truth said: \"Your greatest unkindness to your son was your\nunkindness to his dog.  If you would have your son again, you must\npromise to love him better than you love yourself--and I advise you\nfirst of all to think kindly of the dog that was his friend.\"\n\nShe had scarcely finished speaking when Old Mother Hubbard cried out in\nbroken tones:\n\n\"Give me his dog!\"\n\nThe little black dog bounded joyously toward her, followed by her son\nTom.  They were shown into the place behind the curtain.  Old Mother\nHubbard following them with the greatest haste.\n\nThey could be seen no more.\n\nBut Truth was already speaking again in clear tones: \"Father and mother\nof Hansel and Grettel, appear!\"\n\nAnd the father and mother of Hansel and Grettel appeared from behind\ntheir curtain, and stood hand in hand, with downcast eyes.\n\nSaid Truth to them: \"The father and mother who would not share their\nlast loaf of bread with their children--nay, who would not deny\nthemselves that their children need not go supperless to bed--deserve\nnot the love of children.  They love themselves overmuch.  But if at\nlast in your hearts----\"\n\nThe mother of Hansel and Grettel could not wait for the end of the\nsentence.  She turned stormily to her husband.  \"It was you who\npersuaded me to do it--to lose the poor little things,\" said she.\n\nThe father retorted promptly, \"It was that you, good wife, might not\nstarve that I consented to lose the children in the wood!\"\n\nBut Truth interposed: \"It is not a time now to fix the blame, but to\nmake amends.  Come, mother and father of Hansel and Grettel: can you\npromise that hereafter you will love your children better than you love\nyourselves?\"\n\nIt was the father who replied, speaking in earnest tones: \"Gladly shall\nwe deny ourselves hereafter, if need be, that our children may have\nbread; and in all other ways we shall strive to show them that we love\nthem better than we love ourselves.\"  To which the wife nodded once for\neach word.\n\nWhereupon Hansel and Grettel ran swiftly to their parents, who made a\nway for them to pass behind the curtain, and they all disappeared.\n\nAnd now Truth was crying out, \"Mother of Cinderella, appear!\"\n\nNot only Cinderella's mother, but her sisters too (their curiosity\naroused to the topmost pitch) appeared before their curtain.\n\nSaid Truth, addressing the mother: \"She whom the crystal slipper\nfits--and well do you know her name--will return to you, forgiving and\nforgetting all, if you will promise to love her better than you love\nyourself.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" replied Cinderella's mother, \"I've done that this long while, I\nthink--but how was I to let her know?  Let her come to me this instant\nand she shall never have cause to complain again!\"\n\nThen Cinderella approached her mother and received a kiss; and then her\nmother led her solicitously into the space behind the curtain, the two\nsisters following with awe-stricken faces.\n\nFor the first time now Truth faltered as if she had no heart for the\nnext task she had to perform.  She was standing before the curtain on\nwhich the likeness of the cruel King John was painted.  And at last she\ncried out:\n\n\"John, King of England, appear!\"\n\nThere was a pause--and then an echo of sound.  The curtain trembled; it\nwas pressed forward at one side.  Slowly and with awful majesty King\nJohn appeared.  His crown was on his head, his kingly robe of ermine\nfell from his shoulders, there was a kingly staff in his hand.  His\neyes were like a storm-cloud, his brow like thunder.\n\nIt was now that Truth spoke more impressively than she had done before,\nsaying,--\n\n\"And you--it is true that you were not Prince Arthur's father, but only\nhis guardian.  And yet it may be you would atone for your crimes\nagainst the poor fatherless prince.  Come, Sire--this boy who knew no\nfather save you: if I give him back into your keeping can you promise\nto love him better than you love yourself?\"\n\nThe king frowned more darkly.  \"Better than I love myself!\" he said\nincredulously.  \"Can a king love any one better than he loves himself?\"\n\nTruth continued: \"I cannot read the heart of kings.  It is for you,\nSire, to speak.  I know not what a king's highest vision may be; but I\nknow no man should have power over another, save it be the power of\nself-sacrificing love.  I await your answer--and the prince waits.\"\n\nBut the king repeated, musingly and darkly--\"Can a king love any one\nbetter than he loves himself?\"\n\nThere was a moment of suspense; and then Truth would have moved on; but\nat the last instant the king cried out, \"Stay a moment--I command you!\"\nTwice he tried to speak; and then he said: \"That little prince, so\nhelpless and beautiful!  You need not think that I have not repented me\nof my sins toward him.  In the dark nights the winds have brought me\nback the echo of his sighs; and by day I have seen in every ray of\nsunlight the gleam of his hair, and in the blue sky the beaming eyes of\nhim.  Perhaps if I might try again, though he stood in my way . . . if\nyou would send him hither . . .\"\n\nBut he had not promised, and though Prince Arthur waited, ready to go\nto him, Truth did not give the signal.\n\nThe king was frowning mightily and saying to himself, \"Can a king love\nany one better than he loves himself?  Nay, that could not be!\"\n\nIn a nervous, slinking manner, he drew back behind his curtain.\n\nPrince Arthur drew his cloak about him more closely, as if he were\ncold.  Then with an air almost spectral, yet very sad, he drew further\nand further away, always keeping his eyes upon the picture of the king.\n\nHe came to the folded hangings which opened no one knew whither.  He\nparted them and passed out.  While his hand still clung to the hangings\nthere came a flash of lightning which revealed the chaos of nothingness\nwithout.  Thunder rumbled.  Then the hangings fell back into place and\nthe prince was seen no more.\n\nSo it went on until all the children had been restored to their\nparents--all save Everychild.  And now Truth paused before the curtain\nwhereon the likeness of Everychild's parents was painted.\n\n\"Parents of Everychild, appear!\" she cried.\n\nThey came, subdued, saddened, hand in hand.  And Truth addressed them.\n\n\"Parents of Everychild,\" she said, \"I need not tell you now why\nEverychild is lost to those who should be nearest to him.  You have\nlearned that coldness and neglect toward those who have a right to look\nto you for love and good will is the one sin for which punishment is\nmost inevitable.  But so long as the world stands Everychild shall not\nforget his father and mother; and at last he comes to take you into his\nheart to cherish you for ever and ever.  Will you--but ah, I need not\nask!  I know that at last the parents of Everychild, tried by suffering\nand time, love him better--oh, far better--than they love themselves.\"\n\nTo which the parents of Everychild cried out, \"We do--we do, indeed!\"\n\nThen Everychild gave his hand to the Sleeping Beauty, who seemed a bit\noverawed by all that was transpiring, and led her toward his parents.\nThey stood with outstretched hands.  And immediately they passed with\nthe utmost happiness behind their curtain.\n\nThey had all disappeared now--yet no, Aladdin and Will o'Dreams\nremained.\n\nAladdin had been sitting apart, watching everything that took place.\nHe had kept quite out of the way.  Now he arose leisurely and moved\ntoward those hangings through which Prince Arthur had disappeared.  He\nmeant to join Prince Arthur!\n\nBut just before he disappeared he turned about.  A blissful smile was\non his lips.  He held his hands high.\n\n_His lamp was gone_!\n\nHe passed from sight.  He could be heard singing dreamily,\n\"Tla-la-la . . . tla-la-la . . .\"  His voice died away.\n\nNow Truth remained all alone save that her son, Will o'Dreams, remained\ngazing at her happily.\n\nBut suddenly she perceived an intruder near her.  For the last time,\nMr. Literal was there beside her.  He was smiling smugly and tetering\nback and forth on his feet.  \"You seem very well satisfied with\nyourself,\" he said with a sneer.\n\nShe only turned toward him serenely.\n\n\"Yet all the same,\" continued Mr. Literal, \"the story is full of\nmeaningless things and inconsistencies.\"\n\n\"Do you think so?\" she returned.\n\n\"Of course.  Take those unhappy pictures of childhood, for example.\nYou don't mean to argue really that Everychild is treated unkindly?\"\n\nShe replied thoughtfully, \"I fear that Everychild is sometimes treated\nunkindly.\"\n\nHe seemed to weigh this point and to remain unconvinced.  He moved more\nconfidently to the next point.  \"At least,\" he said, \"you'll scarcely\ncontend that Everychild marries the Sleeping Beauty?\"\n\nShe replied with assurance: \"Everychild marries a Sleeping Beauty.  To\nhim she is beautiful, and she is asleep until he comes.\"\n\nMr. Literal lost patience.  \"Very well,\" he said, \"but you know it's\ntrue that Imagination--I believe he calls himself Will o'Dreams--is not\na giant as he's been represented here.\"\n\nShe replied calmly, \"The greatest giant of all: the forerunner of every\ndream, of every deed!\"\n\nBut Mr. Literal had reserved his most crushing argument for the last.\n\"Well,\" said he, \"it is certainly not true that Everychild has a little\ndog for a companion!\"\n\nAnd now for an instant Truth seemed really confused.  But after\nfaltering a moment she overcame her confusion.  She smiled and beamed\nwith real good will.  \"Perhaps not,\" said she, \"but ah, Everychild\n_should_ have!\"\n\nBut Mr. Literal was not to be conciliated.  \"And as for your not having\na mask on any more, as Everychild would have it, that's nonsense.  It's\nthere, just the same as ever.\"\n\n\"To you--yes, I know,\" she replied.\n\n\"To every one!\" he exclaimed irritably.  \"I'll leave it to the world.\"\n\n\"Let us see,\" she said; and she turned to her son, Will o'Dreams, with\na significant smile.\n\nIt seemed that he understood; for he faced the painted curtains with\nsudden purposefulness.  He held his arms aloft--and all the curtains\nbegan to ascend.  The result was almost bewildering.\n\nIn one place was the great shoe, just as we have seen it before, and\nall about it were the Old Woman's sons and daughters, seemingly the\nhappiest children in the world.  Their mother was smiling contentedly.\n\nIn another place there was the interior of Old Mother Hubbard's\ncottage, with the little black dog just receiving a fine morsel, and\nwith Tom and his mother looking on with great joy.\n\nIn another there was a mean cottage interior--the home of Hansel and\nGrettel--with the parents holding their son and daughter close to them.\n\nIn another was the dreadful King John, pondering moodily on his throne.\n\nIn another there was the kitchen of Cinderella's house, with Cinderella\nholding her skirt back and looking in ecstacy at two perfect crystal\nslippers on her feet, while her mother and sisters _and a perfectly\nfascinating prince_ looked on with rapture.\n\nIn another there was Everychild, being held close to his mother's side,\nwhile the father stood apart, his hands in his trousers pockets and a\ncomplacent smile on his lips.  There was the lamp shade with the red\nbeads, and the clock like a state capitol, and everything.\n\nAs the curtains went up the persons in the various groups looked out\nupon Truth, who asked in a perfectly assured tone:\n\n\"Good people, tell me: am I wearing a mask?\"\n\n\nLet me close my tale by leaving the answer to you, dear reader.\n\nWhat is your decision?\n\nDoes she wear a mask?","title":"Everychild : $b A story which the old may interpret to the young and which the young may interpret to the old","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":46286}