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diff --git a/17521.txt b/17521.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2cc9f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/17521.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6493 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Everychild, by Louis Dodge, Illustrated by +Blanche Fisher Laite + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Everychild + A Story Which The Old May Interpret to the Young and Which the Young May Interpret to the Old + + +Author: Louis Dodge + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2006 [eBook #17521] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVERYCHILD*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 17521-h.htm or 17521-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/2/17521/17521-h/17521-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/2/17521/17521-h.zip) + + + + + +EVERYCHILD + +A Story Which The Old May Interpret to the Young +and Which the Young May Interpret to the Old + +by + +LOUIS DODGE + +Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Laite + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "Poor Cinderella."] + + + + + +New York +Charles Scribner's Sons +1921 +Copyright, 1921, by +Charles Scribner's Sons + + + + + +TO FREDERICA BRITTON + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +ARGUMENT:--_Everychild encounters the giant Fear and sets forth on a +strange journey_. + +CHAPTER + + I. THE TWO STRANGERS + II. EVERYCHILD'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE GIANT + III. EVERYCHILD ENCOUNTERS ALADDIN OF THE WONDERFUL LAMP + IV. EVERYCHILD IS JOINED BY HANSEL AND GRETTEL + V. A DASHING YOUTH IN THE FOREST + VI. A FIGHT WHICH WAS STRANGELY ENDED + VII. THE ADVENTURE OF WILL O'DREAMS + + +PART II + +ARGUMENT:--_Everychild pities the sorrow of Cinderella and rejoices in +her release from bondage; he encounters a dog that looks upon him with +favor_. + + VIII. A PURSUIT IN THE DARK + IX. CINDERELLA AT HOME + X. CINDERELLA'S DECISION + XI. SOME ONE PASSES WITH A SONG ON THE ROAD OF TROUBLED CHILDREN + XII. EVERYCHILD BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH A POOR DOG + XIII. A TERRIBLE LADY AT HOME + XIV. MR. LITERAL'S WARNING + + +PART III + +ARGUMENT:--_Every child views with amazement a famous dwelling-place, +and is grieved by the plight of an unfortunate prince_. + + XV. A STRANGE HOUSE IN THE FOREST + XVI. AN ELABORATION OF ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST SUCCINCT CHAPTERS + XVII. EVERYCHILD, WITH ADDITIONAL COMPANIONS, + FINDS REFUGE IN AN OLD HOUSE + XVIII. HOW THE HAND OF A CHAMBERLAIN TREMBLED + XIX. HOW AN UNFORTUNATE PRINCE ESCAPED + + +PART IV + +ARGUMENT:--_Everychild's feet are drawn to the spot where the sleeping +beauty in the wood lies. Time passes_. + + XX. A SONG IN A GARDEN + XXI. AN ENCOUNTER IN THE ATTIC + XXII. THE END OF A HUNDRED YEARS + XXIII. THE AWAKENING + XXIV. TIME PASSES + + +PART V + +ARGUMENT:--_On his wanderings Everychild bethinks him of his parents, +and discovers that though he has seemed to lose them, he has not really +done so_. + + XXV. WILL O'DREAMS REPORTS A DISCOVERY + XXVI. THE HIDDEN TEMPLE + XXVII. HOW EVIL DAYS CAME UPON THE CASTLE + XXVIII. THE MOUNTAIN OF REALITY + XXIX. THE MASKED LADY'S SECRET + XXX. WILL O'DREAMS MAKES A DISCOVERY + XXXI. HOW ALADDIN MADE A WISH + XXXII. THE HALL OF PARENTS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + "Poor Cinderella" . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + + "You are Hansel and Grettel" + + "Masterpieces indeed!--in a forest! _There_ are masterpieces" + + She sniffed as if there were a fire somewhere + + "As for living in a shoe--there's plenty of females that live in two" + + They began a game which consisted of singing and dancing + + + + +PART I + +ARGUMENT:--EVERYCHILD ENCOUNTERS THE GIANT FEAR AND SETS FORTH ON A +STRANGE JOURNEY. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TWO STRANGERS + +It did not seem a very pleasant room. To be sure, there were a great +many nice things in it. There was rose-colored paper on the wall, and +the woodwork was of ivory, with gilt lines. There were pictures of +ships on the ocean and of high trees and of the sun going down behind a +hill, and there was one of an old mill with nobody at all in sight. +And there was one picture with dogs in it. + +There was a soft rug, also of rose-color, and a fine clock, shaped like +a state capitol, on the mantel. There was a silver gong in the clock +which made beautiful music. There was a nice reading table with books +on it, and a lamp. The lamp had a shade made up of queerly-shaped bits +of material like onyx, and a fringe of rose-colored beads. Yet for all +this, it did not seem a pleasant room. You could feel that something +was wrong. You know, there are always so many things in a room which +you cannot see. + +A lady and a gentleman sat at the reading-table, one on either side. +It seemed they hadn't a word to say to each other. They did not even +look at each other. The lady turned the pages of a magazine without +seeing a single thing. The gentleman sat staring straight before him, +and after a long time he stretched himself and said: "Ho--hum!" And +then he began to frown and to stare at an oak chair over against the +wall. + +You might have supposed he had a grudge against the chair; and it +seemed that the chair might be crying out to him in its own language: +"I am not merely a chair. Look at me! I was a limb on a mighty oak. +I was a child of the sun and the rain and the earth. I used to sing +and dance. Oh, do not look at me like that!" But the gentleman knew +nothing of all this. + +Both the lady and the gentleman were thinking of nothing but themselves +and they continued to do this even when a door opened and their son +entered the room. + +Their son's name was Everychild; and because he is to be the most +important person in this story I should like to tell you as much about +him as I can. But really, there is very little I can tell. His mother +often said that he was a peculiar child. It was almost impossible to +tell what his thoughts were, or his dreams, or how much he loved this +person or that, or what he desired most. + +It was difficult for him to get into the room. He was carrying +something which he could not manage very well. But no one offered to +help him. Presently he had got quite into the room, leaving the door +open. + +The thing he carried was a kite, and he was holding it high to keep it +free of the ground. The tail had got caught in the string and there +was a rent in the blue paper. + +The clock struck just as he entered and he stopped to count the +strokes. Seven. The last stroke died away with a quivering sound. +Then with faltering feet he approached his father. + +His father was frowning. He stopped and pondered. He had seen that +frown on his father's face many times before, and it had always puzzled +him. Sometimes it would come while you watched, and you couldn't think +what made it come. Or it would go away in the strangest manner, +without anything having happened at all. It was a great mystery. + +The frown did not go away this time; and presently Everychild +approached his father timidly. It was rather difficult for him to +speak; but he managed to say: + +"Daddy, do you think you could fix it for me?" He brought the torn +kite further forward and held it higher. + +His father did not look at him at all! + +Everychild's heart pounded loudly. How could one go on speaking to a +person who would not even look? Yet he persisted. "Could you?" he +repeated. + +His father moved a little, but still he did not look at Everychild. He +said rather impatiently: "Never mind now, son." + +Then his mother spoke. She had glanced up from her magazine. "You've +left the door open, Everychild," she said. + +Everychild put his kite down with care. He returned to the door. It +was a stubborn door. He pulled at it once and again. It closed with a +bang. + +"Everychild!" exclaimed his mother. The noise had made her jump a +little. + +"It always bangs when you close it," said Everychild. + +"It wouldn't bang if you didn't open it," said his mother. + +He returned and stood beside his father. + +"You know you used to fix things for me," he said. He reflected and +brightened a little. "And play with me," he added. "Don't you +remember?" + +But just then it seemed that his father and mother thought of something +to say to each other. Their manner was quite unpleasant. They talked +without waiting for each other to get through, and Everychild could not +understand a thing they were saying. He withdrew a little and waited. + +But when his parents had talked a little while, rather loudly, his +father got up and went out. He put his hat on, pulling it down over +his eyes. And _he_ banged the door. But it was the outside door this +time, which never banged at all if you were careful. + +And then his mother got up and went to her own room--which meant that +she mustn't be disturbed. + +Everychild stood for a moment, puzzled; and then he thought of the +broken kite in his hands. He plucked at it slowly. You would have +supposed that he did not care greatly, now, whether the kite got mended +or not. But little by little he became interested in the kite. He sat +down on the floor and began to untangle the tail. + +He scarcely knew when the inner door opened and the cook entered the +room. + +She was a large, plain person. Her face was redder than Everychild's +mother's face, but not so pretty. Her eyes often seemed tired, but +never too tired to beam a little. + +"Are you all alone, Everychild?" she asked. She did not wait for a +reply, but asked another question: "Is something wrong with your kite?" +And again without waiting for a reply she added: "Maybe I could fix it +for you!" + +And she got down on the rug on her knees and took the kite from his +hands. + +Everychild, standing beside her, looked into her rather sad, kind eyes, +which were closer to him than he remembered their ever having been +before. There were little moist lines about them, and they were faded. +Her hands were not at all like his mother's hands. Not nearly so nice: +and yet how clever they were! She was really untangling the tail of +the kite, moving it here and there with large gestures. + +And then Everychild forgot all about the kite. Certain amazing things +had begun to happen near by. + +It had been getting dark in the room; and now it suddenly became quite +bright, though no one had turned the lights on. And there was a sound +of music--a short bit of a march, which ended all of a sudden. And +then Everychild realized that by some strange process two persons had +entered the room. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EVERYCHILD'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE GIANT + +He was almost afraid to look at the two strange persons, because their +being there seemed very mysterious, and he had the thought that if he +looked at them steadily they might vanish. He knew at once that they +were not to be treated just as if they were ordinary persons. It was +not only that they had come into the room without making any noise, or +that there had been that burst of music, or that the light had +brightened. + +It was rather because the cook went on untangling the kite, just as if +nothing had happened. + +He said to himself, "She does not know they are here. She does not +know I have seen anything." + +Then it occurred to him that the two strangers were not paying any +attention to him at all, and that he might look at them as much as he +pleased. + +Suddenly he recognized one of them. He had seen his picture. It was +Father Time. And he could have laughed to himself because Father Time +was a much more pleasing person than he had been in his picture. It is +true that he carried a scythe, just as he had been pictured as doing. +There was a sand-glass too. It was in two parts, connected by a narrow +stem through which the sand was running from one part to the other. + +But he did not have a long white beard, and a dark robe, and a stern +face. Not at all. His eyes were all ready to twinkle. They were the +kindest eyes Everychild had ever seen. You could tell by looking at +them that if you were to hurt yourself Father Time would pity you and +comfort you. He had a rather jolly figure. You could imagine he might +be very playful. And he wore the costume of a jester--though you did +not feel like laughing at him, because his eyes were so friendly and +kind. He stood as if he were waiting to begin some sort of play. + +Then Everychild looked at the other stranger. She was a lady, and very +distinguished looking. He did not recognize her, though he felt at +once that she was a very important person. She was dressed all in +shimmering white. She was very fair and her hair was dressed +beautifully. She wore a band about her hair and there was a jewel in +it, like a star. She wore a little mask over her eyes so that you +could not be sure at once whether she was a kind person or not. She +sat at a spinning wheel, and the wheel went round and round without +making any noise. She was spinning something. She looked very +tranquil. + +Everychild was becoming greatly excited. He touched the cook on the +hand. "Didn't it seem to you to get much lighter?" he asked. + +"Lighter? No. It's getting darker," she replied. + +"And--and didn't you hear any music, either?" + +"I heard nothing." + +It made him feel almost forlorn to have the cook say she had not +noticed anything. He drew closer to her. "Never mind the kite now," +he said. "I want you . . . Oh, don't you see anything at all? Please +look!" He stood with one finger on his lip, staring at Father Time and +the Masked Lady. + +She regarded him almost with alarm. "Lord bless the child, what's +coming over him?" she exclaimed. "There's nothing there!" She +followed the direction of his eyes, and then she looked at him with an +indulgent smile. "There, put your kite away," she said. "It's all +right now except for that rent in it. I'll mend that to-morrow. And +try to be a good boy. You mustn't be fanciful, you know!" + +She patted him on the back and then she left the room. + +He stood quite forlorn, watching her depart. Then with nervous haste +he made as if to follow her. But at the door, which she had closed, he +stopped. You could tell that he was making up his mind to do +something. Then he turned slowly so that he faced Father Time and the +Masked Lady. Presently he took a step in their direction. And at +length, with a very great effort, he spoke. + +"Please--tell me who you are!" he said. + +It was Father Time who replied. He replied in a voice which was quite +thrilling, though not at all terrifying: + +"We are the true friends of Everychild!" + +Everychild brought his hands together in perplexity. "Friends?" he +said. "I--I think I never saw you before. I may have seen your +picture. Yours, I mean. Not the--the lady's. And I'm not sure I know +your right name. If you'd tell me, and if--if the lady would take her +mask off----" + +But Father Time interrupted him. In a solemn voice he said, +"Everychild, I have come to bid you leave all that has been closest to +you and set forth upon a strange journey." + +At this Everychild was deeply awed. Perhaps he was a little +frightened. "All that has been closest?" he repeated. "My mother and +father--it is they who have always been closest." + +"Everychild must bid farewell to father and mother," declared Father +Time. + +And now Everychild was indeed dismayed. "Bid farewell to them?" he +echoed. "Oh, please . . . and shall I never see them again?" He +wished very much to approach Father Time and plead with him; but Father +Time held up an arresting hand and spoke again, almost as if he were a +minister in church. + +"It is not given to Everychild to know what the future holds," he said. +And then he again made a polite gesture toward the Masked Lady. "Only +she can tell what the end of the journey shall be," he said. + +It was now that Everychild looked earnestly at the Masked Lady. If she +would only take her mask off! With a great effort he asked--"And +she--will she befriend me when I have gone from my father and mother?" + +With the deepest assurance Father Time replied, "Give her your +affection and she will befriend you in every hour of loss and pain, +clear to the end of your journey--and beyond." + +"But," said Everychild, "she--she doesn't look very--she looks +rather--rather fearful, doesn't she?" + +"She is beautiful only to those who love her," said Father Time. + +This seemed reassuring; and now Everychild ventured to address the +Masked Lady directly. "And--and will you go with me?" he asked timidly. + +She replied with great earnestness: "Everychild, go where you will, you +have only to desire me greatly and I shall be with you." + +Then it seemed to Everychild that it would not be a very terrible thing +to go away, after all. + +It was plain that Father Time and the Masked Lady were waiting for him +to go; and so without any more ado he boldly approached the door which +opened out upon the street. But his heart failed him again. He drew +back from the door and cried out--"No, no! I cannot. I cannot go out +that way. Is there no other way for me to go?" + +It seemed to him that his heart must cease to beat when Father Time +exclaimed in a loud voice-- + +"Go, Everychild!" + +Still he hung back. "But not that way!" he repeated. "The wide world +lies that way, and I should be afraid." + +"I know," said Father Time, "that the Giant Fear lives outside that +door. But him you shall slay, and then the way will be clear." + +"_I_ shall slay him?" exclaimed Everychild wonderingly. "How shall I +slay him?" + +"Do not doubt, and a way shall be found." + +It was just at this moment that something very terrifying occurred. +There was a stealthy step outside the door--the sort of step you hear +when it is dark and you are alone. And Everychild could not help +shrinking back as he stood with his fascinated eyes held on the door. +He was staring at the door, yet he knew that the Masked Lady and Father +Time were listening to that stealthy step too. The Masked Lady had put +aside her spinning wheel, and Father Time had become very grave. + +There was a brief interval of suspense and then the door began to open, +inch by inch, very slowly. Two terrible eyes became visible. + +Everychild knew immediately that it was the Giant Fear, though for a +moment he could see nothing but the peeping eyes which leered horribly. +And when the Giant Fear perceived that Everychild was terrified, he +thrust the door open wide and stood on the threshold. + +He was, I may tell you at once, the most hideous creature in the world. +His cruel grin was too evil a thing to be described. He carried a +great bludgeon. From his lower jaw a yellow tusk arose at either +corner of his mouth and projected beyond his upper lip. His ears +covered the whole sides of his head. His jaws were as large around as +a bushel basket. + +At first, after he had entered the room, he did not perceive either +Father Time or the Masked Lady. He dropped one end of his bludgeon to +the floor with a thump, and there he stood leering at Everychild with a +sinister and triumphant expression. + +Only a moment he stood, and then he advanced a step toward Everychild. +But just at that instant Father Time moved slightly and the intruder +became aware of his presence. The wicked smile on his terrible face +began to freeze slowly. The great creature shrank away from Father +Time; and as he did so he became aware of the presence of the Masked +Lady on his other side. For an instant he trembled from head to foot! +And then more hurriedly he took another step toward Everychild. + +Everychild was trying very hard to hold his ground; but in truth he +could feel his knees giving way beneath him and it seemed that he must +fall if the giant advanced another inch. Nor did the giant fail to +note that Everychild was in distress, and at this he regained something +of his boldness. In a loud, terrible voice he spoke to Everychild: + +"Ah--ha! And so you were getting ready to defy me--hey?" + +Everychild's teeth chattered as he replied: "Please go away!" + +The giant nodded exultantly. In the same great voice he said, "You +know me, I suppose?--the Giant Fear who always makes Everychild +tremble?" + +A calm voice interposed--the voice of Father Time: "The Giant Fear, +whom Everychild may conquer!" + +The voice was so reassuring, and the eyes of Father Time were so calm +and friendly, that Everychild ceased to despair. With trembling limbs +he ran to Father Time. "If you would lend me your scythe----" he +gasped. He laid a hand on the scythe of Father Time. + +But Father Time withheld the scythe. He said gently, "The scythe of +Father Time is a wonderful weapon; but a better one is at Everychild's +command. Behold!" + +As he spoke he pointed majestically to the Masked Lady. + +She had arisen, and Everychild saw that she held aloft a slim, shining +sword! + +A hush fell within the room; but presently Everychild, addressing +Father Time, whispered: "A sword! And may I take it?" + +With a very firm voice Father Time replied: "You may, and with it you +shall prevail!" + +Oddly enough, Everychild forgot for the moment that he was in peril. +He drew near to the Masked Lady, and he could see that she was smiling. +She placed the sword in his hand. + +At first he held it awkwardly, yet he looked at it with shining eyes. +Then he turned about, holding the sword forward, as the Masked Lady had +held it. He could feel that the hilt of the sword was beginning to fit +snugly into his hand. + +Gradually a strange transformation occurred. His body straightened, +his eyes shone more than ever. He took a step forward, and he knew +that his knees were no longer trembling. In a clear voice he cried out +to the Giant Fear: + +"Defend yourself!" + +But the giant reeled and trembled. He tried to hold his bludgeon +aloft, but his hands shook so that it nearly fell. He became as pale +as death, and it was quite impossible for him to meet Everychild's eye. +He retreated with stumbling steps. It seemed that he would fall. His +power had deserted him. + +He made a last, terrible effort to lift his bludgeon; but Everychild +darted forward with the speed of lightning, holding his sword before +him. It was a very sharp sword, and it pierced the giant's body as +easily as if the great creature had been made of paper. + +The Giant Fear tottered. His bludgeon slipped from his grasp and his +eyes became dim. He fell with a crash. He was dead! + +At that very moment a sound of distant music could be heard. It was +all very wonderful. The music drew nearer; it sounded more loudly. + +Everychild turned and restored the slim sword to the Masked Lady. + +"Do you not wish to keep it?" she asked. + +But it seemed to Everychild that he had no need of the sword, now that +the Giant Fear was dead. "Thank you, I shall not need it again," he +said. + +She said, in a strange, sad voice, "Alas, the greatest need of my sword +arises after fear is gone!" + +But he scarcely heeded her now. The sound of music was heard much +nearer. He lifted his eyes and beheld the door which had always stood +between him and the world. He drew nearer to the door. It was wide +open. + +He heard the voice of Father Time: "The moment has arrived for you to +go, Everychild!" + +He caught step with the music, which was very loud now. + +He marched valiantly away. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EVERYCHILD ENCOUNTERS ALADDIN OF THE WONDERFUL LAMP + +He knew he could go wherever he pleased, and so with very little delay +he entered a deep forest. It was evening and the wind was sighing in +the great trees. A winding road stretched before him like a gray +ribbon. + +Soon he came to where a boy sat by the side of the road. The boy sat +on a small Oriental rug, and by his side stood a very peculiar lamp. +The boy was clad in a purple garment made of silk, with slippers to +match. He wore a very fine skull-cap, also of silk, and a pig-tail +hung down his back. His eyes were very peculiar. They were placed in +his head a little on end; but they were bright and friendly. His mouth +was like a little bow. The lips were merry and red. His cheeks were +like peaches. + +Everychild stopped and looked at the boy, and the boy smiled at him. +"I am trying to think of your name," said Everychild, pondering. +Surely he had seen this boy before--but where? + +"Everychild knows me," returned the boy. "My name is Aladdin." + +"Aladdin--of course!" said Everychild. He sat down by Aladdin on the +Oriental rug. "And this is your lamp," he said, his eyes shining. + +"Alas!--yes," replied Aladdin sadly; and Everychild was surprised that +Aladdin could speak sadly. But Aladdin said no more about the lamp +just then. He turned his eyes, which seemed a bit askew, upon +Everychild. "You were marching bravely as you came along," he said. +"I was watching you. And I thought to myself, 'How can any one walk +bravely along a road like this?'" + +For an instant Everychild's heart was troubled. "Isn't it a good road +to walk on?" he asked. + +Aladdin's reply was: "It is called The Road of Troubled Children." + +Everychild thought a moment. That was a strange name, certainly. "It +seems a little lonely," he ventured, thinking that perhaps Aladdin +would explain why he did not like the road. + +"It is lonely," said Aladdin; "yet all children walk here sometimes. +You see, it is a very long road, so that many may walk on it without +encountering one another." + +Neither spoke for a moment, and there was no sound save the wind in the +trees. + +Then Aladdin said, "When you have walked here a little longer perhaps +you will not walk so bravely." There was an obscure smile on his lips +as he said this. + +But Everychild replied quickly, "Oh, yes, I shall. You see, I shall +remember my friends." + +"Your friends?" asked Aladdin. + +"Father Time, for one. I wish you could have seen how he took my part!" + +Aladdin nodded slowly. "I am hoping he will be a friend to me some +day," he said. + +"And then there is the Masked Lady," continued Everychild. + +"The Masked Lady?" repeated Aladdin in a puzzled tone. + +"She lent me her sword." + +But Aladdin mused darkly until his eyes rested upon his lamp. "I'd +rather persons didn't wear masks--of any sort," he said. "Sometimes +they are dangerous enemies." + +He seemed so troubled as he said this that Everychild asked him, "But +you, Aladdin--why are you making a journey on the Road of Troubled +Children?" + +"I?" replied Aladdin in surprise. "Why, because I am the most troubled +child of all!" + +Everychild could scarcely believe this. "And yet," he said, "with your +wonderful lamp you have only to wish for things, and they are yours!" + +Aladdin made ready to tell his story. He adjusted himself more +comfortably on the Oriental rug, and at last he sighed deeply. "The +child who has everything is never happy," he said. + +Everychild simply could not believe this; and Aladdin read the +disbelief in his eyes. + +"It is true," he said. "Having everything you wish for is like having +more money than any one else. And in such a case, how could one be +happy? How many things would be denied one!--pleasant solitude, simple +friendships, even a good name. Those who had too little would envy you +and hate you; and if you sought to relieve their distress they would +hate you more than ever in their hearts, because you would have +degraded them. You would have to be a spendthrift, which is vulgar, or +you would have to be a miser, which is mean. There is an old saying in +Chinese . . . how shall I put it in your language? Runnings fleet, +unhampered feet. You see? The rich have pampered feet. At best they +tread soft places. No, it is an evil thing to have too much. I would +that the lamp had never been mine." + +"If it were mine," said Everychild, unconvinced, "I think I should be +happy." + +"To be happy," said Aladdin, "means to want something and believe you +are going to get it after awhile. But when you've got everything it is +a good deal worse than not having anything. Because there's nothing +left for you to wish for. And wishing for things is really the +greatest pleasure in the world." + +"But to wish for things, and never to get them?" said Everychild, +deeply puzzled. + +"Let me explain," said Aladdin. "I remember when I was a little boy in +Peking there came a spring when I wanted a kite. Oh, how I longed for +a kite! And my mother said, 'Never mind, Aladdin. When your uncle +comes back from Arabia, where he has gone with the camel train, perhaps +he will bring you a kite!' And I was very happy all the spring and +summer, thinking I should have a kite when my uncle came back from the +camel train. And it was not until the next year, when I no longer +cared very much about having a kite, that I learned how my uncle had +died in the desert, quite early in the spring the year before." + +"And then," asked Everychild, "were you not unhappy?" + +"No. You see, by that time I had begun to wish for something else. +This time it was a pair of little doves which a merchant had brought +from far away in the Himalaya mountains. And I dreamed by day and +night of the time when I should own the little doves. No coin was too +small to be saved. The little coins would become as much as a yen in +time. And at last I was the proud possessor of a yen!" + +"And then you got the little doves?" + +"No. By that time I cared more for the yen than for the little +doves--and besides, the doves had died." + +"But with the--the yen, you could buy something else you wanted," +suggested Everychild. + +"Not so. By that time I coveted some ivory chessmen, worth many yen. +And I was very happy, planning how some day I should become rich enough +to buy the ivory chessmen." + +"But if you only kept on wishing for things," murmured Everychild, "and +never got them, you'd of course become very unhappy some day!" + +But Aladdin slowly shook his head. "I cannot tell how it may be," he +said. "But my poor mother was always happy, and she never really got +what she wished for, unless it was the last thing of all." + +"And that?" inquired Everychild. + +"One thing led to another, in her case; and the last thing she wished +for was heaven. And then she died." + +A great wind roared through the forest and died away in a sigh. + +Presently Aladdin spoke again: "And another great trouble about getting +what you wish for is that in most cases when you get a thing you find +that you didn't really want it, after all. It proves to be not quite +what you thought it; or else it came too late." + +This statement was completed in so mournful a tone that Everychild felt +constrained to say, "Why shouldn't you throw the lamp away, if it makes +you unhappy?" + +"It isn't possible," was Aladdin's rejoinder. "There is only one way +in which I can be rid of it, and I haven't been able to find that way +as yet." + +Everychild was so greatly puzzled by this statement that Aladdin +explained: "I can never be rid of the lamp save on one condition. When +I have wished for _the best thing of all_ the lamp will disappear and I +may rejoice in the thought that it will never be mine again." + +"The best thing of all?" mused Everychild. + +"You see how difficult it is. Who can tell what is the best thing of +all? And so I must go on owning the lamp and being unhappy." + +But Everychild found much of this simply bewildering. "Just the same," +he said after a pause, "it must be very nice to have a lamp to rub, so +that you may have so many things you really want." + +He immediately regretted having said this; for Aladdin took up his +lamp. "Very well," he said, placing the lamp in Everychild's hands. +And there was a malicious gleam in his slanting eyes as he added, +"Suppose you make a wish. But I charge you!--think twice before you +wish." + +Everychild could not take back his words; and besides, he was tempted. +He touched the lamp with trembling fingers. He rubbed it, hoping that +Aladdin would not laugh at him for being awkward or inexperienced. And +sure enough, the genie of the lamp appeared. + +Everychild became quite dumb. He cast an appealing glance at Aladdin. +"Won't _you_ make a wish?" he begged. "After all, it's very hard, +knowing what to wish for." + +"It is," admitted Aladdin. "No, I'll not make a wish. It was you who +summoned the genie. You shall make your own wish!" + +At this Everychild glanced at the genie as if in search of assistance. +But he received no encouragement at all. The genie really looked like +a person who had come to bring evil rather than good. And Everychild +felt his heart pounding painfully, and his head throbbing. But at last +a happy thought occurred to him. He might make a very little wish! + +"It is getting dark," he said to the genie, trying to speak as if he +were thoroughly experienced in making wishes, "I wish I had a nice +place to sleep, here in the forest." + +He had scarcely spoken when he realized that he was all alone: Aladdin +with his Oriental rug and his lamp was gone; the genie was gone. His +hand was resting upon something very soft and cool. It seemed like a +carpet, though finer than any carpet he had ever seen. And he +remembered how his mother had scolded him more than once for lying on +the carpet at home. + +"But no one will scold me for lying here," he reflected. + +So it came about that on his first night away from home he slept on the +beautiful green carpet, with the Road of Troubled Children hard by. + +And he could not know that the thing he had wished for, and which had +been given him was the very thing which poor beggars, beloved of God, +are granted every tranquil summer night. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EVERYCHILD IS JOINED BY HANSEL AND GRETTEL + +In the morning he went on his way along the Road of Troubled Children; +and it seemed to him that he had gone a very great distance when he +heard voices by the roadside. They were the voices of children, and it +was plain to Everychild that they were in trouble. + +He waited until they came close, and then his heart bounded, because he +recognized them. He had often seen their pictures. They were Hansel +and Grettel. + +Hansel was saying sorrowfully, "I am afraid they are all gone, Grettel, +and we shall never be able to find our home again." + +It was then that Everychild stepped forward. "I know you," he said, +trying to seem really friendly. "_You are Hansel and Grettel. Your +parents lost you in the woods to be rid of you_--because there wasn't +enough to eat at home." + +[Illustration: "You are Hansel and Grettel."] + +Hansel and Grettel looked at each other with round eyes. "It is true," +they replied in unison. "But to think it should have got about +already! Who are you?" + +Everychild addressed himself to Hansel--who, by the way, was a fat boy +with wooden shoes and a tiny homespun jacket and trousers of the same +stuff, the trousers being very floppy about the ankles. "I am +Everychild," he said. "And if I were you I'd not try to go home to +such a father and mother. You know, they still had half a loaf left." + +"At least," said Hansel, "I'd like to go home until that half a loaf is +gone!" + +For a second Grettel looked at her brother as if she really could not +think of a suitably severe rebuke. "Our poor father and mother!" she +exclaimed. "No doubt they thought we should find food in the forest, +or that we should encounter travelers who'd have a bite to spare." + +"At any rate," said Everychild, "it's no use your searching any more. +You're looking for the crumbs you dropped, so you'd find the way home. +But I should think you could guess the birds had eaten them all up!" + +Hansel turned to Grettel, his eyes more round than ever. "It must be +true!" he exclaimed. + +"Where you made your mistake was in not dropping pebbles, the way you +did the first time--though I suppose you couldn't have got the pebbles, +being locked up in your room the night before. Anyway, it's no use +your trying to go back. Even if you found the way, the same thing +would happen again. Your father made a great mistake when he agreed to +lose you the first time, simply because your mother asked him to. You +know what the book says: 'If a man yields once he's done for.' You'd +much better go along with me." + +Hansel became all curiosity at once. "Where to?" he asked. + +Everychild undertook to reply quite frankly; but all of a sudden he +became dumb. It had seemed to him that he knew very well where he was +going. Even now he felt that the answer ought to be perfectly simple. +Just the same, he could not think of a single word! + +Then he heard a voice behind him. "He has set forth on a quest of +Truth!" said the voice. + +That was it, of course! He turned gratefully--and there was the Masked +Lady! She seemed to be smiling to herself, as if she had thought of +something which amused her. But on the whole her manner was really +friendly and serious. + +Nevertheless, Everychild was not at all sure that he was glad to see +her. The mask she wore really did give her a very strange appearance. +Still, he faced Hansel with a certain proud bearing. "That is it," he +said. + +And then he turned about again to look at the Masked Lady, for he had +noted that there was something strange about her appearance. She had +left her spinning wheel somewhere. Now she carried the crook of a +shepherdess. One hand rested lightly on the limb of a tree. And there +were sheep not far away. Some were lying on the grass resting; and +some were moving about, their eyes and noses seemingly very much +alive--and their tails. They wiggled their tails with the greatest +energy. + +"I didn't expect to see _you_ here," said Everychild. + +The Masked Lady replied, again with that queer smile about her lips, "I +am very often near when you think I am far away." + +And then Everychild perceived another person standing not far from the +Masked Lady: a little man wearing large spectacles and thread-bare +clothes. He was looking at nothing whatever save a note-book which he +carried in his hand, and he was scribbling intently. Occasionally he +lifted his hand high and touched the note-book with his pencil, and +drew the pencil away with a precise movement. This was when he was +making a period. + +"And the--the gentleman," said Everychild. "Is he somebody who belongs +to you?" + +The Masked Lady seemed surprised by this question, until she perceived +the little man with the note-book. Then she replied lightly--"Oh--him! +That's Mr. Literal. No, he doesn't belong with me. Quite the +contrary. Though I believe he likes to be seen in my company." + +Everychild stared at the little man called Mr. Literal. "I don't like +his looks at all," he admitted. "Maybe he'll go away after awhile?" + +The Masked Lady aroused herself slightly. "I can tell you something +about him," she said. "He's . . . you know the kind of boy who is +forever tagging along--when you want to go anywhere, I mean? Who is +forever disagreeing with you, and wanting things done in a different +way? Who winds up by tattling? A tattle-tale I think perhaps you call +it." + +Everychild nodded his head. "You mean a snitch?" he asked. + +The Masked Lady flinched a little, though she smiled too. "Is that the +word?" she asked. "Well, I've no doubt it's as good as another. If +you like you may think of Mr. Literal as a--a snitch." + +The little man made a period on his note-book and drew his pencil away +with a precise movement. He looked at the Masked Lady with a smug +smile. "That word _snitch_," he said. "It's entirely out of place, +you know--after you've once introduced Aladdin and Hansel and Grettel +in your story. And a giant. It's slang, and it came into use long +after the race of giants became extinct." + +The Masked Lady replied calmly: "The race of giants has never become +extinct." + +Mr. Literal had not ceased to smile in his smug fashion. "Ah, well," +he said; and he began to scribble again, and while he did so he +wandered away. You'd have said he had not the slightest idea where he +was. He had not even seen Hansel and Grettel! + +Everychild looked after the retreating Mr. Literal until he remembered +suddenly that he had asked Hansel and Grettel to go along with him. +Then he heard Grettel say in a really eager voice: "A quest of Truth! +That sounds very interesting to me!" + +But Hansel had to spoil it all by saying: "It would sound more +interesting to me if he said he was looking for something to eat." + +Grettel said, "Oh, Hansel!" in such a tone that Everychild regarded her +more closely. She was really quite charming in her wooden shoes, and +her ample blue skirt, somewhat short, and her waist of terra-cotta +color, with white sleeves. She had on a linen cap shaped somewhat like +a sunbonnet. She turned to her brother and spoke with a good deal of +emphasis. "Anyway, it's plain you'll not find any sausages growing on +the trees. For my part, I'd rather go somewhere. Especially since +we've got a nice boy to go with us. Anything would be better than +spending another night in the woods. I simply don't believe I could +bear it. The noises . . . there's something dreadful about the noises, +when you can't bar a door between you and them." + +Hansel grunted very inelegantly. "Noises!" he retorted. "That's just +like a girl. The only noise that bothers me is the rumbling of my +insides. I'm _hungry_." + +Grettel closed her eyes as if this were really too much. She seemed +unable to think of a word to say. + +Then Hansel said to Everychild: "I don't mind going with you. Only, +you'll have to let Grettel go along too and you can't go very far with +a girl without something happening." + +"Of course, she'd go along," said Everychild. "As for something +happening, it might be something nice more likely than not." + +At this Grettel clasped her hands in ecstacy. "What a nice boy!" she +exclaimed. + +But Hansel only gave her a lofty look. "I haven't seen him do anything +great," he said. "Now, if he could show us something to eat . . ." + +"At least," said Grettel, "he wants to keep on going, while you're all +for turning back. I think he speaks very sensibly." And she came +forward with a pretty blush on her cheeks and took a seat demurely by +Everychild's side. + +She was really startled when Hansel, in his most offensive voice, +exclaimed--"Grettel! Don't you know you're not allowed to sit on the +ground in your best dress?" + +But she managed to say, with a certain amount of independence, "Oh, +Hansel--as if anything mattered now! Don't you see that if we're not +going back we'll have to make rules for ourselves from now on? I've +always wanted to do whatever I pleased in my best dress, and I'm not +going to miss the chance now!" + +Hansel looked knowingly at Everychild, and jerked his head toward +Grettel. "Females!" he said. "That's why you have to sit on them. +They're like kites. Once you let them go they're over in the next +field standing on their heads." + +But Everychild thought he should rather talk to Grettel. He looked at +her with a smile, and immediately she began to pluck at her skirt and +pat her hair and look at him out of a corner of her eye. He said: "It +was good of your parents, wasn't it, to put your best clothes on you +when they meant to lose you?" + +She replied promptly: "I should have thought it very mean of them if +they hadn't." + +Hansel seemed to agree with his sister for once; and he added to what +she had said, "And you'll notice they didn't put any bread and cheese +in the pockets, so far as anybody can find out." + +But Grettel threw her hands up and permitted her head to wilt over on +one side. "There! We might just as well be going," she said. "Hansel +never has a decent word to say. When he's hungry he growls; and when +he's eaten he nods. For my part, it would be a relief to see him nod +awhile. Come, let's be getting along!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DASHING YOUTH IN THE FOREST + +And so they set forth along the road. They had not gone far, however, +when they espied a youth crossing the road before them. + +It could be seen at once that he was on a very important mission, and +Everychild said to his companions, "Perhaps we ought not to disturb +him. Let us wait, and it may be that he will cross the road and go on +his way." + +But the youth did not do this. He had heard the children approaching, +and he remained standing in the road, waiting for them to come up. + +Grettel was already looking at the youth out of the corner of her eye +and smiling. + +"I'm going to speak to him," declared Hansel. + +"Hansel!" exclaimed Grettel; "we mustn't disturb him!" And she glanced +at Everychild for approval--though she hastily turned again so that she +was observing the strange youth out of the comer of her eye, and she +smiled more invitingly than ever. + +"I don't care!" retorted Hansel. "He looks like a rich man's son, and +he might tell us where we could get something to eat." + +Just then the strange youth began to approach them with a proud air. +He was really very handsome. He was very sturdy, and he was clothed +smartly in a velvet jacket and knee breeches. A fine cloak fell +loosely from his shoulders. He wore a plumed hat and carried a sword. + +As he drew near Hansel said: "Hello! Have they been trying to lose you +too?" + +It was then that Everychild recognized the strange youth as Jack the +Giant Killer; and at the same time he heard Grettel whispering: + +"How handsome he is!" + +Jack the Giant Killer replied smilingly to Hansel: "Lose me? Not at +all! It's plain you don't know who I am." He touched his breast +lightly with his forefinger. "I am Jack the Giant Killer." He then +brought his heels together and removed his hat with a wide gesture, and +made a fine bow. + +"I recognized you," said Everychild, "though I didn't know you lived in +this neighborhood. I mean, near Hansel and Grettel." + +Jack replied with a certain neat air: "I don't live anywhere in +particular. Did you never hear of my seven-league hoots? I have a way +of bobbing up wherever there are any giants." + +In the meantime Grettel had sat down on a grassy bank beside the road. +"It's very tiresome, walking," she said. And then, very politely (to +Jack), "Won't you sit down?" + +He accepted this invitation, and Everychild and Hansel also sat down. + +Grettel sighed and said: "I'd like so much to hear about your fights +with the giants. It must be wonderful to know how to fight." + +Jack could not help saying "Ho--hum!" in a rather bored way, though he +politely placed his hand over his mouth. "There's nothing great about +it," he said, "when you're fixed for it. I've my seven-league boots, +and my invisible cloak, and my sword of sharpness. You can't help +winning with them. Of course, there's my wit, too." + +Grettel smiled mysteriously and nodded her head. "It's your wit first +of all," she declared knowingly. + +Hansel was pouting. "Your wit?" he said; "does it help you to get what +you want? If it does, I'd like to know about it." + +Grettel had wriggled herself into a comfortable position; but now she +sat up stiffly. She put her hand over her mouth and whispered, +"Please, Hansel, don't say anything about _food_!" But she quickly +turned an untroubled face to Jack, who was saying: + +"There's the way I got old Blunderbore, for example. You've heard +about that, haven't you?" And he looked anxiously at all three, one +after another. + +Everychild and Hansel looked at each other dubiously, but Grettel saved +the situation by saying, "It was rather a long time ago. If you'd just +go over it again . . ." + +"That was my most famous piece of work," said Jack. "You see, I carry +a leather pouch under my cloak. It's filled with food----" + +There was an almost violent interruption by Hansel. "Food!" he +exclaimed. But Grettel edged closer to him so that she could tug at +his sleeve without being seen. + +"Of course!" continued Jack. "Well, one day after I'd had dinner with +Blunderbore I boasted that I could do something he couldn't do. He +laughed--and I knew I had him. Says I, 'Very well, I'll show you. I'm +going to rip my stomach open without feeling it.' We'd been eating +ginger-bread, and I'd slipped a piece into my pouch." + +A strange light had come into Hansel's eyes, and he sighed with ecstacy +"Ginger-bread!" + +"So," resumed Jack, "I plunged my knife into my pouch hidden under my +cloak, and a fine bit of ginger-bread tumbled out." + +Everychild repeated the words--"Into the pouch hidden under your +cloak." And Jack concluded with-- + +"Of course--so." + +He made an expert pass with his sword, and instantly a number of red +apples and a dozen fine tarts rolled from under his cloak and were +lying there on the grass. + +Without even a hint of ceremony Hansel flung himself forward on his +stomach and seized upon the tarts greedily. + +Even Grettel could not conceal her desire for food, and she exclaimed +joyously, "Oh, tarts! Could I have one?" + +"Why not?" replied Jack lightly; whereupon Everychild placed a number +of the tarts in her lap, and she began to eat heartily. + +"This comes of wearing one's good dress," said Grettel between tarts. +"If I'd been wearing an old rag I'd have seen no tricks, that's +certain." + +Jack regarded her a little curiously. "As I was saying," he resumed, +"old Blunderbore shouted 'Pooh-hoo!' at what I had done. That was his +ugly, boasting way, you know. He jabbed his knife into his own stomach +to show he wasn't to be outdone--and down he fell, dead as a doornail." + +Everychild's heart was beating hard and his face wore a troubled +expression. "I suppose," he said after a thoughtful pause, +"Blunderbore was a very wicked giant--like the Giant Fear?" + +Jack was frankly surprised at this question. "A giant is a giant," he +said shortly. + +But the troubled expression did not leave Everychild's face. What if +there were a few good giants?--and what if a good giant should +encounter Jack? + +His reflections were broken in upon by a triumphant voice--Jack's +voice--exclaiming, "Here's luck for you! Here's one of them coming +now!" + +It was true. A very large giant was approaching through the forest. +And the strangest part of it all was that Everychild knew quite well +that this was a good giant. His eyes began to shine and he was +thrilled through and through. + +He had never seen so wonderful a creature: so splendid, so powerful, so +fascinating. The giant seemed almost to tread on air. He held his +face up so that the sun shone on it. His eyes were filled with magic. +He wore a wreath of leaves about his hair. A garment like a toga fell +gracefully from his shoulders. He was shod with sandals. He carried +his hands before him as if they would gather in the sunshine. A smile +half sly and half gentle was on his lips. + +Everychild clasped his hands eagerly as he gazed at the giant. He +seemed to know that this splendid stranger would lead him presently, +and he was not certain whether he should wish to be led or not--whether +it would be good or evil to be led by him. + +His musing and wonder were broken in upon by Jack, who was again +speaking. "I'll give you a little exhibition of my skill," he said, +"I'll have his life before your very eyes." + +Everychild became greatly troubled. He could not speak for a moment. +He could not bear to think that the giant should be slain. He even +ventured to hope that he had no cause for fear--that so powerful a +creature might be depended upon to protect himself. Yet Jack the Giant +Killer seemed just now a very valiant figure, and it was plain that he +believed it to be his duty to slay the approaching giant. + +It was Grettel who replied to Jack. "Dear me!" she exclaimed +incredulously, "How shall you do it?" + +"I haven't thought of a way yet," was the response. "It takes wit, you +know. I'll think of a way before long. Don't speak so loud." + +The giant had come quite close to them by this time. "Good morning," +he said pleasantly. + +Not one of the children recognized him, and Everychild ventured to say, +in a polite tone, "Good morning . . . though I don't believe we know +who you are." He was thinking: "If he will only explain that he is a +good giant!" + +"I am known as the giant, Will o'Dreams," was the reply. + +Everychild was charmed by the beauty of his voice; but he was startled +when Jack cried out sternly,-- + +"And what are you doing here?" + +The giant regarded Jack with thoughtful eyes. "A natural question, I +am sure," he said after a pause. "Permit me to say, then, that I have +merely been looking at a few masterpieces." + +At this Everychild felt a delightful sense of mystery stir within him. +The words seemed tremendous--and yet he could not think what they meant! + +But Jack the Giant Killer nodded his head shrewdly. And almost +instantly he said, "Well, you'll look at no more masterpieces--whatever +they are!" + +The giant seemed to be simply amused. "Say you so?" he replied. + +Grettel clasped her hands with delight. "How suitably he talks!" said +she. + +"I do," said Jack. "You don't know me, eh? I'm Jack the Giant Killer. +And you're just about my size." + +It was here that Everychild interfered. "Maybe he's a good giant," he +said to Jack. And to the giant he added courteously, "Won't you sit +down and rest awhile, Will o'Dreams?" + +"I thank you," responded the giant; and he sat down by the side of +Everychild. + +And instantly the thought came to Everychild that at whatever cost he +must save the splendid stranger from that terrible sword of sharpness +which Jack the Giant Killer was even now drawing from its scabbard. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A FIGHT WHICH WAS STRANGELY ENDED + +It was plain that Jack was in a determined mood. He was no longer +seated with the others. He drew off a little and capered in a very +confident manner. For the moment he was content to say nothing more to +the giant. He had drawn his sword; and now he hopped about, cutting +the heads from tall grasses and tender twigs from the trees. + +You would have said that his mind was very far away but for the fact +that he occasionally glanced at the others to see if this or that +skilful pass had been witnessed; and occasionally he gazed at the giant +in a very stern manner. + +As for the giant, he spoke pleasantly to Everychild, asking him whither +he was bound; and when Everychild replied, quite simply, that he had +set out in quest of Truth, the giant nodded his approval. + +It was Everychild who introduced the subject of Jack and the threat he +had made. "Maybe he'll not do anything when he finds you're a good +giant," he said; "and anyway, I suppose you'll know how to defend +yourself--a big fellow like you?" + +He was greatly disturbed by the giant's reply. "I'm a big fellow, +yes," said Will o'Dreams, "and I can hold my own with other big +fellows. You know how to take them. But when you're a giant it seems +you don't know how to take the little chaps. I've always regarded Jack +the Giant Killer as a brave and honorable youth. But some of the +little fellows are hard to handle. They're full of tricks and deceit. +I've had many a tussle in my time; but when it comes to a fair test, +give me a man who's got honest strength--who's ashamed to do mean +tricks." + +Everychild was considering this when he heard a voice behind him; and +turning his head, he was surprised to perceive that the Masked Lady was +standing there, quite close to him, and that Mr. Literal was only a +step or two distant. Mr. Literal held his note-book before him, and he +had just lifted his hand with a flourish, after putting a period after +something he had written. It was he who was speaking. + +"It's all very well," said Mr. Literal to the Masked Lady, "for him to +be making friends with that giant," and he nodded his head toward +Everychild and his companion, "but just the same, I could wish to see +him in better company. Look at the giant's eyes. Visionary eyes. +Very little precise thinking going on back of a pair of eyes like that!" + +The Masked Lady replied quietly: "It's only little creatures who +consider precision the first of all merits. Let them alone." + +Everychild's attention was attracted then by Jack, whose manner had +suddenly changed and who now approached the giant with a mysterious +smile on his lips. + +"You know," said Jack, "I was only joking awhile ago when I spoke +roughly to you." + +"Ah, it's all right then," replied the giant in a tone of relief. + +"Yes, I was only joking. Just my way of getting acquainted." And he +continued to smile. + +Presently he added meditatively. "A big chap like you--it must be +wonderful to be as strong as you are. The way you ought to be able to +handle a sword--I suppose you carry a sword, of course?" + +"Nothing like it!" replied the giant. + +"You don't say so! A terrible bludgeon then, no doubt?" + +"No. You see, my taste doesn't run in that direction. When I'm +wishing for power or fame I think of . . . it's a little difficult to +explain. Wings. I wish for powerful big wings, so that time and space +couldn't hold me back." + +"Wings! That sounds funny!" said Jack. "But a sling-shot, at +least--of course you carry a fine sling-shot around with you?" + +"No, nor a sling-shot." The giant extended his arms with a candid +gesture, so that Jack might see he was wholly unarmed. + +Then a very amazing thing happened. Jack the Giant Killer suddenly +uttered a cry of triumph. "Fool that you are!" he exclaimed, "to +confess that you are helpless! Do you suppose we are deceived by your +make-believe friendliness? Prepare to die!" And he lowered his sword +with a swift flourish. + +So terrible was his manner that it seemed the giant was really lost. +Every one felt this. Grettel clasped her hands tensely and a light at +once fearful and eager leaped into her eyes. Hansel drew back as if to +be out of the way of danger. The giant, pale yet unflinching, arose. + +It was then that Everychild, springing to the side of the giant, cried +out in a ringing tone-- + +"Stay!" + +The giant calmly lifted his hand and gazed into space; and at that +moment, from out the depths of the forest, came a commanding voice, +exclaiming-- + +"Jack the Giant Killer! Jack the Giant Killer!" + +The voice was distant, yet sonorous and stern. + +Everychild looked to see who it was that had spoken: and whom should he +behold emerging from the forest but Father Time! He carried his scythe +and sand-glass, and he moved forward with majesty, yet with haste. He +fixed his gaze upon Jack and uttered one more thrilling word--"Stop!" + +To Everychild he seemed a changed person as he adjusted both his scythe +and his sand-glass in his left hand and advanced with his right hand +uplifted. He seemed very stern. His eyes traveled from one face to +another until at length they rested only on Jack. Then upon the +shoulder of Jack the Giant Killer his hand descended. + +Everychild could scarcely believe his own eyes for a moment or two. A +tragic change occurred in the youth who had been so splendid. + +_He had become old and infirm_! His clothes were in tatters, his form +was bent, his sword was covered with rust. + +Then Jack--trembling and helpless--looked wonderingly and forlornly at +Father Time. "What have you done to me?" he asked in a quivering voice. + +Father Time replied calmly: "I have laid my hand on your shoulder!" + +"Yes--but I don't mean that," said Jack. "Something strange . . . my +boots: see, they have been changed. They were new and wonderful. In +them I could take steps seven leagues long!" + +Father Time replied: "Jack the Giant Killer, when I have laid my hand +upon you again and yet again, you shall possess the true seven-league +boots. They shall carry you seventy times seven leagues--and beyond." + +"And my invisible cloak--it was rich and fine before you came; and now +it is ragged." + +"Jack the Giant Killer, when I have laid my hand upon you again and yet +again, it shall be given to you to wear the true and only invisible +cloak." + +Jack looked ruefully at his sword. With a sob he exclaimed, "And my +sword of sharpness! . . ." + +Father Time replied, "Jack the Giant Killer, beneath my touch the sword +of sharpness becomes the sword of rust." + +For an instant Jack searched the faces of the others. "Have I no +friend here?" he demanded. "Will no one take my part?" + +Everychild's heart was touched with pity; but before he could speak +Father Time continued: + +"I am your friend. And I bid you go home and cultivate those virtues +which you know not. Be patient, and contentment shall come: a friend +more unfailing than a strong arm. And hope shall come: a friend more +fleet than seven-league boots. And faith shall be yours: far better +raiment than your cloak which was invisible." + +But Jack hung his head. "And my beautiful sword that was my +pride . . ." + +To the amazement of all it was the giant, Will o'Dreams, who stepped +forward to comfort Jack. In a voice which was marvelously kind he said: + +"I know you for a brave youth, Jack the Giant Killer; and as for me, it +has been said that I am generous. Listen: I alone among all the race +of giants have power to bid Father Time move speedily, or to retrace +his steps. Let us see what I can do." + +He solemnly lifted his hand, and Father Time, walking backward, +disappeared in the forest. + +At that very moment the Masked Lady took a step forward, saying in a +soft and soothing voice: + +"Jack the Giant Killer, if you will come to me with all your heart and +place your hand in mine, I can make you beautiful and strong, despite +all that Father Time has done." + +Jack lifted his troubled eyes to hers. "You?" he asked. And then he +tried to approach her, but he had become too infirm. "I cannot!" he +cried despairingly. + +He would have fallen, but the gentle hand of the giant, Will o'Dreams, +was instantly about him, supporting him. "Let me help," he said. + +Everychild's heart was beating loudly. "Let me help too!" he cried. +"I have always been fond of Jack the Giant Killer." + +Between these two, then, the infirm little old man, who had been the +gay youth, moved totteringly toward the Masked Lady. With a slow, +tremulous gesture he placed his hand in hers, which was stretched out +to him. + +A miracle! He was instantly the brave and gallant youth again, +seven-league boots, invisible cloak, sword of sharpness and all! + +He lifted his sword with a great shout of joy. And then, remembering +his manners, he said to the Masked Lady, "I thank you, lady!" And to +Everychild he said, "They shall never be deceived who put their faith +in you." And to the giant, Will o'Dreams, he said, after a solemn +pause--"It may be that you shall see me fight again; but when that day +comes, I shall be fighting on your side!" + +And so he marched gallantly away into the forest. + +It was then that Everychild observed that the night was falling. +"Perhaps we ought to sleep awhile," he said to his companions. "This +seems a very nice place, and we may have to go a long distance +to-morrow." + +They all found places on the grassy bank, the giant Will o'Dreams lying +down beside Everychild like a true friend. + +They had no sooner taken their places than it was really night. +Insects in the forest about them made a droning sound. A distant bell +rang faintly. One by one the members of the band fell asleep. + +All save Everychild. He alone was wakeful. And he knew that the +Masked Lady had taken a step forward and was looking down at him. + +He lifted himself on his elbow and looked away toward the sky where it +appeared through the trees. And suddenly he exclaimed. "Oh, +wonderful! I think I saw a star fall!" + +The Masked Lady spoke to him soothingly: "Perhaps. They fall every +little while." + +Everychild had not known this. "Do they?" he asked; "I wonder why?" + +The Masked Lady said, "Perhaps it is so we may know that they don't +amount to very much, after all." + +"Not amount to much! But they are worlds, aren't they?" + +"Yes, they are worlds." + +"Then if they don't amount to a great deal, is there anything that +does?" + +"Nothing but human beings." + +"Human beings . . . and why do they?" + +"Because every human being--even the most obscure or humble or +wayward--is a little bit of God." + +Everychild pondered that. It gave him a deep feeling of comfort. He +gazed away into the mysterious sky. He mused, "What a journey I shall +have to-morrow, with my new friend by my side." + +He fell asleep repeating the words, "A little bit of God--a little bit +of God . . ." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE ADVENTURE OF WILL O'DREAMS + +Scarcely had he fallen asleep when a stealthy figure emerged from the +gloom of night and sought out the place where Will o'Dreams lay +sleeping. The stealthy figure proved to be none other than Mr. +Literal; and after he had stood looking down upon the sleeping band an +instant, he kicked the Giant's foot warily. + +The giant was up in an instant. His first thought was that his +services were needed. There was no hint of resentment in his heart; +and he proved his gentle qualities by moving carefully, so that the +others would not be disturbed. + +He bent his head above Mr. Literal to hear what he had to say. + +"Follow me!" said Mr. Literal coldly; and without more ado he turned +and led the way into the depths of the forest, the giant following him +wonderingly. + +They came before long to an old house with all the blinds drawn save at +one window, through which the beams of a lamp shone dimly. + +Mr. Literal opened the front door, which creaked angrily. He lighted a +hall lamp so that he and the giant might find their way up a flight of +stairs in safety. A musty odor filled the giant's nostrils, causing +him to wrinkle his nose slightly. But he said nothing. + +Up the stairway they proceeded, and into a study. It was in this room +that a lamp had been left burning. + +Mr. Literal approached a table and drew forth two chairs. "Sit down," +he said, still without looking at the giant. And Will o'Dreams seated +himself in one of the chairs and waited for Mr. Literal to explain his +somewhat peculiar behavior. + +As an immediate explanation did not seem to be forthcoming, he employed +his spare time in looking about the room. There was dust everywhere, +and frayed rugs and faded hangings. But there were a number of busts +which were really a delight to the eye: of Shakespeare, of Burns, of +Victor Hugo, of Dickens and of others. And there were book cases +filled to overflowing with books--all dust-covered, as if they had not +been touched for years. + +Mr. Literal took a seat at last; and for a moment there was silence in +the room and throughout the old house, save that a window rattled +somewhere in the night breezes. Then Mr. Literal leaned forward +deliberately, his finger tips fitted together and his lips drawn into +very prim lines. And at last he spoke. + +"Listen to me, _Mr. Will o'Dreams_: I know you!" His tone was +triumphant, merciless. + +But the giant only nodded politely and said, "Very well, Mr. Literal; +and I know you, too!" + +"At least," said Mr. Literal icily, "I do not go about under an assumed +name!" + +"Nor do I," replied the other. + +"It is false!" exclaimed Mr. Literal. "I know you too well. You are +that evil creature, Imagination." + +"I am sometimes called so," admitted the giant candidly. "The name has +a somewhat formidable sound. I prefer to be known as Will +o'Dreams--that is all." + +"You are trying to evade the truth," declared Mr. Literal. "Well do +you know that if you were to make your real name known, honest folk +would shun you." + +The giant only waved his hand lightly. "I will not argue with you," he +said. + +"But I have something else to say to you," said Mr. Literal. "Your +statement to those children on the road--that was false too." + +"What statement?" inquired the giant, his brows lifting slightly. + +"You informed them that you were looking for masterpieces; yet you know +well that your real purpose was to becloud the young minds of those +children--to turn them from the quest of Truth. Dare you deny this?" + +"I do indeed. I assert again: I was looking for masterpieces." + +"Masterpieces indeed!--in a forest! _There_ are masterpieces"--and he +pointed to the bookcases. "But you were not even looking for my house." + +[Illustration: "Masterpieces indeed!--in a forest! _There_ are +masterpieces."] + +"I was not thinking of books," admitted the giant. + +"I grant, there are other kinds of masterpieces," said Mr. Literal; +"but they are not to be found in a forest." + +"Ah, Mr. Literal!" cried the giant. "I would that I might open your +eyes. Believe me, the forest is filled with masterpieces of such +perfection as the hand of man can never know." + +"So--then name me one!" + +"The tiniest leaf that falls from its stem. Not all the human race +could duplicate it. The humblest plant. The human eye has no power to +take in all its marvels. And as for the trees--what has the world +produced that can match them?" + +Mr. Literal was flushing uncomfortably. "That is a large boast," he +said. "The world has produced Karnac; it has produced the Petit +Trianon, and St. Peter's and St. Paul's." + +"But my dear sir," cried the giant warmly, "cannot you see that the +most labored structure of man is crude and clumsy and artificial, when +compared with any tree in all the world? Houses are dead, pathetic +things. They begin to decay the moment they are built. Rightly seen +they are hideous, save when they are considered in relation to some +simple human need. They keep the wind and rain away--for which, God +knows, we should be the better sometimes. They have no beauty save the +spirit of human striving that is within them--and that too often is a +tarnished thing. But a tree! There are fairies under the trees, +truly! True aspirations hover about them, and beautiful dreams." He +lowered his voice and said reverently, "The Holy Spirit is all about +them." + +"They are simply trees," said Mr. Literal harshly. + +"Yes," agreed the giant, nodding and smiling, "they are simply trees." + +But Mr. Literal hitched his chair forward angrily. "We are talking +nonsense," he declared. "It is your plan to divert me from my purpose. +But you shall not do so. Listen: I forbid you to associate with those +innocent children. You would corrupt them. It shall be my duty to +expose you if you do not cease from following after them. Do you hear?" + +The giant bowed his head thoughtfully. "You ask too much," he said. +"I know I have done evil in my time. But I am repentant. Come, +believe me when I say that I would be only a friendly companion to +those children. I would add to their innocent joys and take from their +sorrows. You do not know me, really. I have no wish to offend you; +but I tell you you ask too much when you bid me turn aside from that +pleasant company." + +He arose and turned toward the door. + +"You are warned," said Mr. Literal. "Persist in your present course +and I shall bring you to your knees." + +"Abandon Everychild?" said the giant musingly. And he shook his head. +"No," he said. Then, wishing to conciliate the old man, he looked +about him to where the busts reposed. "They are all friends of mine," +he said with a pleasant smile. + +"They are all dead," said Mr. Literal coldly. + +"What!--Shakespeare dead?" cried the giant in amazement. But he did +not remain for other words. Mr. Literal was staring stupidly at +nothing. He went out into the hall and closed the door behind him. He +would have descended the stairs then, but some one brushed against him +lightly and whispered, "Why do you waste your time in there?" + +"I went in against my will," said the giant. + +The stranger said in glad tones, "I know you well." + +The giant replied, "My name is Will o'Dreams." + +"Yes, yes," said the other. "My name is Will, too. Though certain +well-meaning persons have always preferred to refer to me as William. +I used to write plays, you know." + +The giant gazed at him in the dim light. "Of course," he said. + +"I used to live beside the Avon," said the other. + +The giant's heart grew soft. "It is a beautiful stream," he said. +"And children play along its banks, just as in the old days, and men +and women passing that way are the happier because you once dwelt +there." + +But the other held up a cautioning finger. His eyes twinkled +mischievously in the dim light. "Not so loud," he said. "Old Mr. +Literal will hear you--and you know he doesn't know I am here!" + +They parted then; and the giant went back to his place where the +children lay asleep. + + + + +PART II + +ARGUMENT: EVERYCHILD PITIES THE SORROWS OF CINDERELLA AND REJOICES IN +HER RELEASE FROM BONDAGE; HE ENCOUNTERS A DOG THAT LOOKS UPON HIM WITH +FAVOR. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A PURSUIT IN THE DARK + +Everychild thought perhaps he had been asleep a long time when he was +awakened by the sound of a clock in a distant tower striking the hour +of 1. He became quite wide awake. + +He looked to his right and to his left. Hansel and Grettel were on one +side of him, sleeping deeply. Hansel was even snoring. The giant, on +his other side, lay motionless. + +He looked to see if the Masked Lady had remained near him, but she was +nowhere to be seen. Mr. Literal also had disappeared. + +Then he sat up suddenly, his heart thumping loudly. There was the +sound of hurrying feet on the road nearby. And there was something +about the sound . . . you could tell that it was some one who was lost, +or in trouble. Presently there was a sound of weeping too. + +Everychild sat with his hands clasped about his knees, staring at the +road: and before long, there she was--a girl running as if she were in +great peril. And as she drew nearer Everychild felt quite sure he knew +who the girl was. He could not be sure how he knew. But a name came +into his mind, and he said to himself, "It is Cinderella." + +She raced past him as if she were a leaf caught in the wind. Again he +heard her weeping. And then, without at all knowing what he intended +to do, he sprang to his feet and dashed down the road after her. It +would be fine to speak to her, he thought. And besides, it seemed +almost certain that she needed help. + +But it was amazing how fast she could run. He thought: "That's the +kind of a girl you would like to play with--a girl who can run like +that." + +Still, he hoped she would become tired before long, so that he might +overtake her. After all, it was rather uncomfortable, pursuing her in +the dark. His own feet made a fearful noise--a ghostly patter which +awoke the night echoes. + +Moreover, certain wild creatures of the forest were disturbed. An owl +dashed from its branches overhead and went sailing down the avenues of +the forest. A rabbit, sitting on a little hummock, dropped its +forefeet to the ground and went prancing away, to wheel presently and +look at the road suspiciously. + +"I'll never overtake her," thought Everychild. He could just see her +now: a mere blur in the shadows far ahead of him. He could no longer +hear the sound of her feet. Then quite suddenly she disappeared. + +Had she fallen? Had she hidden behind a tree? Was she afraid of him? + +He ran more softly. If she were hiding he must not frighten her. If +he could only speak to her once she would know very well that she need +not fear him. + +But when he came to the spot where she had disappeared he perceived +immediately that she had not hidden. At this point a path turned away +from the road, and it seemed clear that she had taken the path. + +The path led into a deeper forest. It became very silent and black. +He could barely see the path beneath his feet. And it seemed to him +that he was now all surrounded by living, hidden creatures, who knew +that he was passing. But he could not feel that Cinderella was +anywhere near him. + +The path turned into a lane, and the lane entered a region where there +were vague fields on either side, fields in which things had been +planted. And then he stopped suddenly, not knowing whether he should +continue on his way, or return to his companions by the side of the +road. He had discerned a house before him, standing on the top of a +hill. And although it was very late, a single light burned in one of +its windows. + +For just a moment he reflected; and then he continued on his way, in +the direction of that lighted window. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CINDERELLA AT HOME + +For just a few moments let us enter that house of the lighted window, +that we may witness certain strange happenings. + +We come into an immense, old-fashioned kitchen or scullery. + +A candle burned on a mantel, sending its tranquil light out into the +room and creating ghostly shadows. Under the mantel, in the deepest +shadows of all, andirons and a crane seemed to be slinking back as if +they were hiding. + +In the center of the room there was a rough wooden table. Over against +the wall, near the door which opened to the highway, stood a +grandfather's clock, ticking severely, as if it were dissatisfied with +the way things were going in the house. There were a number of other +doors visible, all closed as if they were saying, "This is an orderly +house, and everybody has gone to bed, of course!" + +But everybody hadn't gone to bed! Over beyond the wooden table, +against the wall, there was a bed, and there was nobody in it. +Moreover, there was a figure seated at the wooden table: the figure of +a woman, who silently polished the spoons which were scattered before +her. She had already scoured certain pots and pans which were piled in +a heap near her hand. + +Suddenly the strange happenings began. + +A mouse appeared among the pots and pans on the table. It sat an +instant, with alert eyes and fidgety nose and whiskers, and then it +scrambled down the leg of the table and crossed the floor in the +direction of the grandfather's clock. An instant later there it was +again, climbing up the white face of the clock! + +The clock ticked more severely than ever. The mouse disappeared amid +the works of the clock: and presto! The clock loudly struck one. + +The mouse darted into sight again, slipping down across the face of the +clock. Then it disappeared. + +The vibrations of the clock, filling the room as with a great clamor, +slowly died away. + +Then there was another sound: a nervous rattling of the latch on the +door opening to the highway. The door opened rather abruptly, and +Cinderella, panting and pale, stood on the threshold. + +For an instant she seemed afraid to enter; yet plainly she was also +afraid to remain standing there on the threshold. She glanced swiftly +about the room and then she entered and closed the door sharply behind +her. She stood for a moment, panting and leaning against the door. + +There was something very strange about her; for although she was weary +and frightened, and clad in the shabbiest old dress imaginable, her +face nevertheless shone with rapture. + +Need I tell you what had occurred to her? She had forgotten what the +good fairy had told her about coming home before one o'clock; and as a +result her coach-and-four and her coachman had been changed back to +what they had originally been: a pumpkin, a rat, and four mice. What a +disaster! + +Yet after she had stood against the door long enough to catch her +breath she advanced into the room, thrusting her arms upward and +forward as if she were embracing a lovely vision. Her eyes burned with +a glorious light. + +She had not seen the figure at the table, bending over the spoons. It +was plain that in imagination she was seeing something far different. +And then she uttered these words (to nobody at all!): + +"Oh, the wonder of it, the wonder of it!" + +Then something else happened. One of the inner doors opened and a +young lady stood craning her neck so that she could look into the room. +She stood so an instant, and then she was joined by another young lady, +and both came into the room. + +They were both simply glorious in party-frocks, though on the skirt of +one the ruffles had been bunched clumsily, and the bodice of the other +was slightly twisted. + +They were Cinderella's sisters. + +The first sister had opened the door just in time to hear what +Cinderella said; and now she rather cleverly imitated Cinderella's +words and manner-- + +"'Oh, the wonder of it!' The wonder of what?" + +For a moment longer Cinderella gazed into space, her eyes holding a +glorious vision. Then, lowering her gaze and observing her sisters, +she said, a little less fervently, "Oh . . . everything!" + +The second sister now spoke. There was a pitying note in her voice as +she said to the first sister, "_As if she had the slightest idea of +anything as wonderful as the things we've seen!_" + +To which the first sister replied with a sigh--"Poor Cinderella!" + +But Cinderella only turned away from them that she might hide the +secret in her eyes. She sat down before the fireplace, and the two +sisters seated themselves on either side of her. None of them had +taken the slightest notice of the figure at the wooden table in the +middle of the room. + +Cinderella seemed to be dreaming again, while the two sisters were +plainly overflowing with excitement. They glanced at each other across +Cinderella as if to say, "Shall we tell her?" And each nodded eagerly +to the other. + +Then said the second sister: "It is we who have seen the truly +wonderful things, Cinderella." + +"Yes," said Cinderella dreamily, "I know." + +Said the first sister: "But you don't know--not the half. You know +we've been to the ball, but you don't know what happened there." + +Cinderella leaned forward, resting her cheeks in her hands. Her +sisters could not see her eyes. "Tell me what happened," she said. + +"The most wonderful princess came to the ball," said the first sister. +"Quite a stranger--not a soul knew her. She was a sensation." + +The second sister could scarcely wait to add, "The loveliest creature +ever seen!" + +Cinderella looked at her sisters now, one after the other. Her eyes +seemed to caress them. "Ah, tell me about her," she said. + +Said the first sister: "She first came last night--and then again +to-night. She came late, from nobody knew where in an equipage the +like of which was never seen before. She came late and left early." + +Cinderella forgot herself a little. "Yes, I know," she said, "but +where----" + +"How should _you_ know?" demanded the second sister sharply. + +Cinderella hastened to say, "I mean--tell me more about her." + +It was the first sister's turn to speak. "We could never describe +her," she said. "Her eyes--they were like certain bright flowers +shining in the dusk . . ." + +"Oh, were they!" cried Cinderella softly. + +And now the second sister said, "And her form--it was like a young +poplar tree in the wind . . ." + +"Oh, how good of you to tell me!" cried Cinderella. + +The first sister could scarcely wait to say, "And her dress--it was +like dew on the grass!" + +Cinderella brought her hands together with rapture. "Was it truly?" +she asked. + +"Quite like it," said the first sister. "And her hair and cheeks--they +were--they were like yours, poor Cinderella, only of course much more +beautiful!" + +Cinderella's hands were still clasped. "Oh, much more beautiful, I +know!" she murmured softly. + +Then a silence fell upon all the sisters. Cinderella clasped her hands +about her knees and gazed dreamily into the fireplace. Her sisters +stole pitying glances at her. They noted her wretched dress, and +gentle regret shone in their eyes. + +At length the first sister said generously, "You know, Cinderella, we +should be very glad to have you go places with us and have a good time, +too, if mother----" + +But the second sister interrupted dutifully, "If it were the custom for +the younger sister to be treated like the older sisters." + +Cinderella nodded, "I know it is a custom--that's all," she said. +"Maybe my turn will come when you've both got good husbands and fine +establishments of your own." + +The two sisters arose. The first began to yawn loudly; but remembering +her manners she patted her lips with her finger tips, changing the yawn +into a smile. She advanced toward the door by which she had entered. +The second sister made as if to follow her, but turned for a final word. + +"It's lovely of you not to be jealous of us, Cinderella," she said. "I +hope your turn will come, too. Good-night." + +Cinderella had already relapsed into her dreamy mood. "Good-night," +she called. And she continued to sit and gaze into the fireplace. + +But suddenly she started up excitedly and turned about. She fixed her +gaze upon the door opening to the highway. Her left hand moved +unconsciously to her heart. + +Some one was timidly knocking on the door! + +She stood for a moment as if to make sure that she had not dreamed that +some one had knocked. It was very late, and the house was in a lonely +spot. Then she advanced, marveling yet unafraid, and removed the bar +from before the door. + +The door opened quietly and Everychild stood on the threshold. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CINDERELLA'S DECISION + +Everychild's eyes beamed with delight. "Then you _did_ come to this +house," he said. "I thought you did; but you ran so fast--I couldn't +be sure where you went." It is true that he was breathing quickly, but +he was perfectly happy. + +Cinderella stood regarding him, two finger tips pressed against her +cheek. "Have I--have I ever met you before?" she asked wonderingly. + +He did not really reply to this. "I was beside the road with my +companions," he said. "We were lying down. I saw you hurry by. I +could tell something was the matter. I followed you. I hope you don't +mind!" + +She regarded him dubiously. "You look like a very nice boy," she said. +"But it's fearfully late for you to be out or for me to ask you to come +in. Still----" + +"Please let me come in," pleaded Everychild. "There's something I want +very much to ask you." + +After a pause she said, "Well, yes, you may come in." She stood aside, +watching him with a whimsical smile as he advanced into the room. + +He stopped in surprise when he saw the figure at the table, bending +over the spoons. It was the Masked Lady. She had put aside her +shepherdess's crook and had become a house-servant. But he was so full +of the thought of Cinderella that he paid little heed to the Masked +Lady. + +He sat down in one of the chairs the sisters had occupied; and when +Cinderella followed and sat down by him he gazed at her intently. + +"Tell me--what was it you wished to know?" asked Cinderella. + +He had trouble finding the right words; but at length he began, "Your +mother--does she whip you? You know, you were running so, and you +seemed so frightened . . ." + +Cinderella looked beyond him. She seemed to speak to herself rather +than to Everychild. "She doesn't whip me," she said. "If it were only +being whipped I shouldn't mind so much. A whipping . . . it's soon +over and little harm done. No, she doesn't whip me." + +"Or perhaps she tries to lose you," said Everychild. "You were really +in a dreadful state, you know, as you came running along the road." + +But Cinderella continued to speak musingly, as if to herself. "She +doesn't whip me. But to know that you're never to be praised or loved; +to have your mother look at you coldly, and say nothing--or just to +have her pay no attention at all, but to act as if a wrong had been +done her somehow . . . a whipping would be easy, compared with that." + +Everychild took her up with swift comprehension. "I know what you +mean," he declared. "Not to have them listen when you speak, as if you +were in the way . . ." + +Cinderella gazed at him darkly. "Child, what do you know of such +things?" she demanded. + +Everychild answered simply, "Our mothers were like that too. I know +what it means." + +Cinderella said, "Your mothers?" + +"First it was just me," explained Everychild. "And then it was Hansel +and Grettel." + +"Ah, those poor children!" exclaimed Cinderella. "I've heard how their +parents took them out into the woods to lose them. I'm surprised they +ever went back." + +"They're not going back again. They're going with me. With me and the +giant and----" + +"But where?" interrupted Cinderella. + +"And you shall go with us," concluded Everychild. "That's what I +wanted to tell you. We're going to find the truth." + +But this only brought a sad smile to Cinderella's lips. "Ah," she +said, "I wonder if it would be really wise to do that. Sometimes I +think our hearts never break until we know the whole truth." + +Everychild could not understand this; and he was relieved when the +Masked Lady spoke. She was still polishing spoons slowly. Now she +said, without looking up, "Our hearts break when we know only half the +truth. They are healed when all the truth is known." + +"Come, it will be great to have you go too," declared Everychild +urgently. + +Cinderella slowly relaxed in her chair. She rested her chin in her +palm and gazed at the floor. Her eyes presently took in the fact that +she had lost a slipper. + +"I don't see how I could manage it," she said. "I seem to have lost a +slipper. One of the pretty glass ones. But there, you don't know +about that." She aroused herself and began looking about for her old +slippers. She looked here and there. She found them at last under the +bed. She took them into her hands and turned them over and over, +regarding them sadly. Then without seeming cause she started guiltily +and fixed her gaze on the door through which her sisters had made their +entrance and exit. + +"Some one is coming!" she whispered excitedly, + +Everychild sprang to his feet. + +"It's my mother, I think," added Cinderella. "I'm afraid there'll be +trouble. Please run away. No, I don't think I could go with you, +after all." + +Everychild stood undecided an instant; and then he could see the inner +door opening. He would have run away, then, but it was too late; and +Cinderella seized him by the arm. It was plain that she was trying to +think of a place where he might hide. + +He knew what to do in a second. He dropped to the floor and rolled +under Cinderella's bed! From his hiding-place under the bed he saw the +door open wide and a very pompous-appearing matron enter the room. + +This was Cinderella's mother, who began immediately, in a rage: + +"So, my fine girl, you are here ahead of me!" + +Cinderella bowed her head. "I am here, mother," she said in a low +voice. + +"Without your fine clothes, I see!" + +"My fine clothes, mother?" said Cinderella, with downcast eyes. + +"None of that, my lass! A mother's eyes are not deceived. I knew it +was you! All those jewels and silks, finer than your poor dear sisters +can afford to wear, did not deceive me. And the prince dancing with +you shamelessly while your poor sisters sat by as if they had wooden +legs . . . did you suppose for an instant you could deceive me?" + +Of course Cinderella knew she had been found out. She replied in a +tone of sad resignation: "I could scarcely have expected to deceive +you, mother. I've had so little experience in doing so. You know I've +always been obedient--always before. Deceit isn't easy. I had only +changed my dress, after all, while you had put on a gracious +manner--and yet I knew you instantly." + +"Precisely . . . _What_? Oh, you shall pay for that!" + +The angry creature looked about for some means of inflicting a cruel +punishment, and her eyes came upon a closet door. "Come, to bed with +you!" she exclaimed. "In the closet! It will do very well for such as +you. I'll have you under lock and key to-night, and to-morrow I'll +look into your case, you impudent, disobedient wretch!" + +Seeing what her mother's intention was, Cinderella cried in a mournful +tone, "Oh, mother!" + +But her mother stamped her foot violently. "In with you!" she cried. +Whereupon she removed a key from its peg on the wall and unlocked the +closet door. With one movement she forced Cinderella into the closet. +Then she locked the door and replaced the key on its peg. + +"Unless the child is a witch in disguise--which I shouldn't put apast +her, for how else should she get the silks and jewels she wore +to-night?--she'll not be able to show her face again until I come to +let her out. I _wore a gracious manner_, did I?--and she knew me +instantly in spite of it! There's a dutiful child for you. A dutiful +child? A shameless hussy!" + +And the furious creature blew out the candle on the mantel and left the +room. You could hear her slam the door. + +A faint cry of distress came from the locked closet: "Mother--mother!" + +In the darkness Everychild's voice could be heard speaking cautiously, +"Wait, Cinderella--wait until I can make a light." + +The voice from the closet was heard again: "Mother--mother!" + +And then Everychild's voice: "I must make a light, so that I can find +the key!" + +For the last time Cinderella's voice could be heard faintly--"Mother!" + +And then there was the calm voice of the Masked Lady: "Now you can see!" + +The room was lighted again! The Masked Lady had arisen from her place. +She was holding the lighted candle above her head. + +Not a second was wasted by Everychild. He hurriedly crossed the room +and took the key from its peg. He unlocked the closet door. + +Cinderella thrust the door open and burst into the room. + +"I couldn't leave you there, you know," said Everychild. + +Cinderella regarded him intently. "You could not leave me there--no," +she said; "and you shall not leave me in this house, where I meet only +indignities and abuse. Come, I am going with you." + +Not another word was needed. Hand in hand they approached the outer +door. For a moment Everychild disengaged his hand to remove the bar +from before the door. He opened the door, and then hand in hand they +passed the threshold. + +As if she were moving quite absent-mindedly the Masked Lady went and +closed the door behind them. She put the bar back in its place. She +pondered a moment and then she re-locked the closet door, replacing the +key on its wooden peg. + +There was a sound of footsteps approaching; and instantly the light +went out, though the Masked Lady had not blown upon it. + +Pitch darkness for a moment, then the flash of a light. The mother of +Cinderella was standing near the mantel, lighting the candle, which was +back in its place again. The Masked Lady was seated by the wooden +table, polishing spoons. + +"I thought I heard a voice!" mused the mother of Cinderella. + +She inspected the outer door. The bar was in its place. She looked at +the closet door. It was locked. The key was on its peg. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOME ONE PASSES WITH A SONG ON THE ROAD OF TROUBLED CHILDREN + +The sun came up and filled the woodland with patches of gold. Birds +began to sing. The forest was awake. + +The children began to awaken, one after another: Hansel, first. He got +up and rubbed his eyes morosely and said, "I'm hungry as a wolf!" + +His movements aroused Grettel. She said, "No wonder, Hansel. We +really must have something to eat." + +Then Everychild stirred; and then Cinderella, who was lying by his +side. Next, the giant, Will o'Dreams, sprang to his feet and viewed +the sun-patches far and near, and lifted his arms in delight. For the +moment he quite forgot the threat which Mr. Literal had made against +him. He was perfectly happy. + +They all went a little distance and found a brook, where they washed +their faces and quenched their thirst. Then Everychild remarked, "We +ought to have breakfast." + +Hansel looked at him almost contemptuously. "Ought we, indeed!" he +exclaimed. "And I suppose you know where we're going to get it?" + +"We must think," said Everychild. + +And at that very moment there was the sound of some one coming along +the road, singing. They all looked to see who it was. + +"Aladdin!" exclaimed Everychild excitedly. + +It was indeed Aladdin. His pigtail hung down adorably and his rosy +mouth expressed nothing but happiness. He was singing-- + +"Tla-la-la . . . tla-la-la . . ." + +He perceived the children standing in a row, gazing at him. He stopped +short. His song ended. He stood there smiling. + +"Good morning!" said Everychild. He added in a voice which faltered +just enough to make his question seem in good taste, "Have you got your +lamp?" + +Aladdin moved a little, so that they might all see his lamp. He held +it aloft and looked at it, and then at Everychild. + +"And so you haven't been able to think of the best thing of all?" asked +Everychild. + +"Alas, no," replied Aladdin, his eyes suddenly becoming somber. + +Everychild thought again, as he had done before, how strange it was +that Aladdin should wish to be rid of his lamp. But he thought it best +to speak cheerfully. "We were just wishing for breakfast," he said. +"But of course it didn't do any good, because we hadn't any lamp." + +Aladdin's eyes began to twinkle again. "What did you wish for +breakfast?" he asked. + +Hansel made haste to say, "Sausages--and plenty of them!" + +Grettel reflected and said: "Eggs. Some nice poached eggs." + +They all looked at Cinderella, who hesitated and then said +reluctantly--"If I could just have a little marmalade and seed-cake----" + +The giant said nothing at all; and at last Everychild spoke: "I'm not +particular," he said. "Just anything that happens to be convenient." + +This response pleased Aladdin best of all. He said, "Well, I'll wish +for you." He pushed his soft loose sleeves back and held his lamp up. +He rubbed it in a certain fashion, and sure enough a great genie +appeared. + +"If you'd just kindly prepare something nice for breakfast," said +Aladdin to the genie courteously. And the genie made a salaam which +delighted Grettel particularly, and then he began to pluck things out +of the air--just as the magician in the theater does: a small stove +from which a blue flame arose; a sauce-pan; a nice table covered with a +white cloth; plates and knives and forks--everything. He placed a +white cap on his head and held the sauce-pan over the blue flame. He +kept smiling mischievously all the while; and at last he carried the +sauce-pan to the table and poured something into every dish. Then he +made another salaam, and that was all there was to him. + +The children all eagerly took their places. They looked excitedly to +see what the genie had prepared for them. + +It was bread and milk in every case. + +They all shouted gleefully because of the trick the genie had played on +them. Then they looked about for Aladdin, who for the moment was +nowhere to be seen. + +Far down the road they heard him singing as he went on his way. His +voice was faint and musical-- + +"Tla-la-la . . . tla-la-la . . ." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +EVERYCHILD BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH A POOR DOG + +After they had finished their breakfast they all decided it would be a +wise plan to have a serious talk among themselves, so that they might +agree upon their plans for the future. + +"We ought to know just what we want to do," said Everychild. + +"And how we're going to do it," said Cinderella. + +Said Hansel: "I'm for keeping right ahead on this road, so we'll +overtake that boy with the lamp." + +Grettel could not think of a suggestion, and she contented herself with +saying in a critical tone, "Oh, Hansel!" + +"It might be that we ought to find some other road," said Everychild. +"You know this is called the Road of Troubled Children." + +"I am told," said the giant, speaking for the first time, "that if you +watch for the guide-posts it presently turns into the Road of Happy +Children." + +A harsh voice behind them exclaimed. "It is false!" And turning his +head, the giant beheld Mr. Literal glowering down upon him from behind. +However, he paid not the slightest attention. + +"Anyway," said Everychild, "it doesn't matter so much what road we take +if we only find the truth at the end. We mustn't forget that's what +we're looking for." + +"You'll find that in a book," declared the harsh voice of Mr. Literal. + +"I think we'll find it, no matter what road we take," said the giant. + +"You'll find it in your hearts," another voice was heard to say. And +now it was to be noted that the Masked Lady had also appeared. + +"And when we find it," said Cinderella, "--then what shall we do?" + +"When we find it we shall know what to do," said the giant. + +"When you find it you'll be prepared to die," declared Mr. Literal. + +"When they find it they shall be prepared to live," the voice of the +Masked Lady was heard to say. + +A laugh like the crackling of dry fagots was heard; and Mr. Literal +exclaimed musingly: "The little simpletons! They seek to find the +truth at their age! Little do they know that I have spent my whole +life anxiously seeking it!" + +The Masked Lady said softly: "It is found by those who have ceased to +seek it anxiously." + +Then the members of the band sat in silence for a time, each trying to +decide what the truth would mean. Hansel was thinking that it would +mean the secret of getting something to eat at every hour of the day +and night. Cinderella decided it would mean a way of finding the +prince who had danced with her at the ball. And Everychild got no +further than the decision that it would mean something that would make +every day perfectly delightful. + +In the meantime the forest had become glorious with the heat and light +of the ascending sun. The waking noises of the birds had given place +to the business of being boldly active. And the children, with a +common impulse, would have resumed their journey. But just at that +moment a traveler was seen to be approaching. + +It was Everychild who went forward to salute the traveler, who proved +to be a boy with hanging head and lagging feet. His hands were thrust +into his pockets and there were tear-stains on his cheeks. + +"Good morning," said Everychild. + +"Don't bother me," said the boy. "I'm running away." + +"I didn't see you run," said Everychild. + +The boy stopped and looked at Everychild reproachfully. "It's called +running away," he said; "though everybody knows you don't run, and for +that matter, there's no _away_ about it. Mostly you turn around and go +back. But I call it running away just the same. It takes a load off +my mind." + +"I know how it is," declared Everychild. "My friends and I have taken +to the road, too; and if you like, you may join us." + +The boy thought this over a moment; and at length he said, "I'll do it. +I'll not get any further away, being with others, and it'll not be any +harder to go back, when I weaken. I'm ready to join you now, only it +might look better if I just drop in on my mother for a minute to tell +her good-by." + +If seemed to Everychild that perhaps this would be a wise thing to do. +"And shall we wait for you?" he asked. + +"You might just go along with me, if the others will wait, to make sure +there isn't any foul play." + +To this plan Everychild readily agreed; and after he had explained the +situation to his companions, he set off with the new boy along a path +which branched off from the road. + +"My name is Tom," explained the boy. "Tom Hubbard." And after that +they continued their way in silence. + +They arrived, after no great journey, at a very prim little house, set +down in a very prim little garden. Curtains hung in the windows just +so, and the door-knob shone like gold. The only friendly thing about +the place was a little black dog with a rough coat and great wistful +eyes, which came running down the walk to leap up before the boy Tom, +trying to lick his hands. + +They entered the house, and the instant Everychild crossed the +threshold he realized that he had never seen a house quite like this +one. It made you think of a very careful drawing. Everything was at +right angles with everything else. A small table stood precisely in +the middle of the floor, and two really silly little chairs were placed +before it. A spick-and-span cupboard, with a perforated tin front, +stood over against the wall. + +The little black dog ran over to the cupboard immediately and stood on +his hind legs, gazing at the perforated doors. + +"We'd better sit on the floor." said Tom, after he had glanced uneasily +about the room. + +This seemed a bit strange to Everychild, but he said politely, "I'm +very fond of sitting on the floor myself." + +And so they sat down on the floor and clasped their hands about their +knees. + +"And so this is where you live!" said Everychild, looking about him +with frank interest. + +"It is where I _did_ live. I'll live here no more, now that I've found +somebody to run away with. When she comes in--my mother, I mean--I'll +just say good-by and light out." + +"What's been the matter?" asked Everychild. + +"It's no fit place for a boy to live," said Tom. "In the first place, +nobody's ever home. Mother's always gadding about somewhere. She +gives lectures on _The Home_, and she's never here except between +lectures. And even then her mind is somewhere else. You don't dare to +speak to her. She stares at nothing--so. And all she says is, 'For +goodness' sake, don't shout so;' or '_Must_ you make that noise when +you're eating?' or 'Can't you walk without shaking the floor like +that?' and finally, 'I think you'll drive me insane at last--such a +careless creature you are!'" + +"It must be very bad," said Everychild. + +"I've been so I was afraid to move, knowing she would complain. I've +sat for hours studying her, trying to understand her. I used to think +the fault was all mine." + +"It does make you feel that way, doesn't it?" said Everychild. "And +sometimes I've thought fathers were as bad as mothers about making you +feel so." + +Tom lapsed into a dreamy mood. "Fathers . . . I don't remember much +about my father," he said. "But he used to be uncomfortable about the +house the same as me. The things she says to me--they come easy to her +now, because she learned to say them long ago, to my father. He +couldn't have a friend in to see him. It was always: 'Why don't they +go home for their meals?' or 'Why don't they track dirt into their own +houses?' or 'Why don't they fill their own curtains with tobacco +smoke?' You know how they talk. And he quit bringing his friends +home. He stayed away more and more himself. I've not seen him now for +years." + +"I'm not sure I ever heard of your father," said Everychild. + +"You wouldn't have heard of him. Mother always made so much noise that +you only heard of her. You wouldn't have overlooked _her_, with her +finding fault all the time, and pretending not to be appreciated at +home. She was always pitied by the neighbors, who knew only her side +of the story. Oh, everybody's heard of Old Mother Hubbard. But who +ever heard of Old Father Hubbard? She drove him away with her precise +little ways, and now he's forgotten." + +Everychild could scarcely conceal his surprise. He hadn't supposed it +was _that_ Hubbard. "And so this is where Old Mother Hubbard lives," +he said, looking about him with new interest. + +"It's where you'll find her at odd times," said Tom, "when she hasn't +got a committee meeting to attend, or a board meeting, or a convention, +or something. I shouldn't say she _lives_ anywhere." + +"Still, everything is nice enough in its way," remarked Everychild, +"and I always thought she was very poor." + +"Not at all," said Tom. "It was her 'poor dog.' That's what you have +in mind, I suppose. And there never was a poor dog except one with a +mean master or mistress." + +At that moment, the little black dog, weary of looking at the cupboard, +approached Tom and flopped down beside him. + +"And that's her dog," said Everychild musingly. + +"He's mine, really," explained Tom, "though I always try to think of +him as hers. You take a fellow like me and he'd rather not own a dog. +He has to go out into the world sooner or later; and if he has a dog he +keeps thinking about him when he's away, and about there not being any +one to put water in his bowl, and open the gate for him or go with him +for a run. A dog likes to be with you, you know; and when you're gone +you keep seeing him all the while: waiting at the gate for you, or +outside your door. And you know all the time that some day when you're +gone he'll grow old at last, and lie alone dreaming of you, and +looking--while there's none but strangers by to spurn him. No, +sometimes I think it's better not to have a dog for a friend." + +Everychild was thinking about this when Tom suddenly reached for his +hat, which he had placed by his side. "Perhaps we'd better be getting +along," he said, "without waiting to tell her good-by. After all, +there's no telling when she'll be here." + +Everychild did not like to go without having seen Old Mother Hubbard; +but there seemed no way to suggest this, and he was just rising to his +feet when there was a bustling sound outside the door. + +"She's coming now," said Tom in a whisper. "She'll be here right +away." He was dreadfully uneasy. He added in a tone of apology, "Just +make the best of it, won't you, if she's ugly? It will blow over in a +minute or two." + +And then the front door was opened briskly and Old Mother Hubbard +entered the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A TERRIBLE LADY AT HOME + +She came into the room in the manner of one who was about to say, +"Fellow-citizens!" But she said nothing just at first. She took a few +steps further, walking as if she expected to have a badge pinned on +her, or to receive a prize. She had a double chin; and when she began +to speak, which she did a moment later, it developed that she had a +deep baritone voice. + +Her first words were: "Away with you!" + +They were for the little black dog, who had rushed toward her with +swaying tail. + +Then she saw her son and Everychild. _She sniffed as if there were a +fire somewhere as she said to her son, "And who is this, pray?"_ + +[Illustration: She sniffed as if there were a fire somewhere.] + +Everychild would have felt almost alarmed but for the fact that +something extraordinary occurred just then. The Masked Lady entered +the room and stood just inside the door. Still more remarkable, Mr. +Literal appeared just behind her. + +"This," replied Tom to his mother, "is--is a boy who came home with me." + +"Is it, indeed!" exclaimed Old Mother Hubbard icily. She added, "What +I meant to inquire was. What is his name?" + +Tom was blushing. "His name is Everychild, mother," he said, "and +he's----" + +Old Mother Hubbard had removed her bonnet, which was a little affair of +black velvet and jet ornaments. She touched her hair with her finger +tips here and there. "I might have known as much!" she said. +"Everychild! And I suppose you think it is quite right for Everychild +to come tagging home after you, making work for other people?" + +Tom cried out forlornly, "Oh, mother . . ." + +As for Everychild, he was thinking--"She'll never let him go!" He was +standing with one foot on top of the other in a very uncomfortable +manner. Still, he was trying to smile, as if to convey the idea that +Old Mother Hubbard must be joking, of course. + +But the old lady continued severely: "I've warned you before. You +ought to know by this time that a house is a--a house." + +Here Everychild managed to say, "I'll not be a bit of trouble, Mother +Hubbard, and--and I'm very glad to meet you." + +She stared at him as if she were really seeing him for the first time. +But her temper broke forth again. "Don't tell me!" she exclaimed. "I +know what boys are. You'll not deny, I suppose, that you get +ravenously hungry three times a day?" + +Everychild was so amazed by this that he looked helplessly at Tom. + +"Precisely!" continued Old Mother Hubbard. "Well, you should have +heard our President's address yesterday afternoon on _The Superfluous +Table_." + +Her son interrupted in great embarrassment, "Oh, mother, he doesn't +even know what you mean!" + +"Per'aps not. You've not told him, then, that your mother is +Vice-President of the Mother Goose Auxiliary of the Amalgamated +Associations of Notable Ladies?" + +"No, mother," said Tom, bending his head in shame. + +"Well, at all events . . . the President went on to say that the dinner +table was a relic of barbarism. And she was quite right. She cited +cases known to all we ladies . . ." + +Mr. Literal, from his place in the background, could not help saying to +the Masked Lady, "Why is it that ladies with baritone voices _always_ +have trouble with their objective case?" + +But the Masked Lady did not reply, and Old Mother Hubbard continued: +"There was the case of Mrs. Horner's son--her dear, dutiful little +Jack. When he ate his Christmas pie, where was he sitting? _In a +corner_! No dinner table there to cause a lot of work and worry. And +please note that he was delighted when he _pulled out a plum_. Yet the +plum is one of the simplest forms of--of sustenance. And there was +Miss Muffet, daughter of the highly honored Mrs. Alonso Muffet. During +that meal which has become historic, where did she sit? _On a tuffet_!" + +Everychild could not help asking, "What _is_ a tuffet?" + +But Old Mother Hubbard only regarded him blankly, as if there had been +no interruption, and then she proceeded. "And you will note what she +was eating. _Curds and whey_--perfectly simple yet nutritious fare. +There were other instances showing that the wasteful dinner table must +go. It was a wonderful address. A treat. A feast of good things. A +_spiritual_ feast." + +Her son tried to lift his head. "Yes, mother," he said, "but you know +I've sometimes thought how good it would seem to see you in the house, +dressed for staying in instead of going out, and maybe sitting by the +window sewing, or in the kitchen paring apples, or lifting the lid from +a pot and letting the steam out in a cloud . . ." + +"A survival of the male superstition that Woman was born into perpetual +bondage," was the crisp response. + +It seemed to Everychild that some one ought to change the subject. He +tried. "It's really very interesting, Mother Hubbard," he said; +"and--and that's a very nice dog you've got!" + +"Do you think so? Take him away with you--do! I see nothing nice +about him." + +By this time her son could endure no more. "He's going to take him +away, mother," he said. "And he's going to take me, too. I just came +to tell you good-by." + +For the first time the old lady was strangely quiet. She gasped an +instant and then she cried out angrily, "Good-by? And where are you +going?" + +"I'm going with Everychild. We're going to find the truth." + +His mother turned aside. "The boy is mad!" she said. Then facing him +again she demanded, "Do you know what the truth is? I'll tell you. +It's this: When you get hungry and come back home, standing with one +foot on top of the other outside my door, _you'll find the door shut_!" + +There was an impressive silence for a moment, and then the Masked Lady +remarked tranquilly, "If he finds the truth, no door will ever be +closed to him again." + +Then Tom, turning to Everychild, said--"Come, we'll go." + +They left the house together. The little dog bounded after them. The +door swung to. + +The old lady, clearly alarmed, went to the door as if she would open it +and cry out. But pride prevented her from doing so. She stood with +one hand on the wall, listening. And at last she did open the door; +but not a living creature was in sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MR. LITERAL'S WARNING + +Everychild was in a high state of excitement as he and Tom made their +way back to where the other members of the band awaited them. + +He had scarcely dared to hope that Tom would be able to get away from +his mother so easily. She had seemed really terrible. But now there +was little danger of her overtaking them and making her son go back. + +He was delighted that there was to be a new member of the band; while +the thought of having a dog along with them seemed almost too good to +be true. It would be much more interesting, having a dog with them. +He could not know, of course, what exciting events lay in wait for him, +and it seemed to him that having the dog might be the most wonderful +part of the entire journey. + +He was just thinking that the band was now large enough, even if no +other children appeared to go with them, when something occurred to mar +his perfect happiness. + +Tom had been walking ahead, because he knew the path better; and all of +a sudden some one caught step with him and began to talk to him. + +It was Mr. Literal; and the little old man was smiling in a very +hypocritical manner and rubbing his hands together. + +"Just a word of caution," said Mr. Literal, by way of beginning. + +Everychild knew it was going to be something disagreeable, but he only +said, "What is it?" + +"That fellow who calls himself your friend----" + +"You mean the giant," said Everychild. + +"He's a bad lot. Better keep an eye on him." + +Everychild stared at the path before him. + +"I'll tell you a little something about him--then you'll know whether +I'm right or not. Did he ever tell you where his home is?" + +"No," said Everychild, very uncomfortably. + +"Of course not. Well, he was driven away from his home, years ago. +He'd not dare to go back." + +"Why?" asked Everychild. + +"For telling lies. Every word he speaks is false. He doesn't know how +to tell the truth. His own mother doesn't know him any more. That's +how bad he is." + +"He seems a very pleasant boy," said Everychild. + +"There you are! Of course. It's easy to have a name for being +pleasant if you're willing to say the first thing that comes to hand." + +"But wouldn't you find people out if they did that?" asked Everychild. + +"Of course!" + +"Well, when I find the giant out I'll remember what you've said." + +He was glad that the path broadened into a road just then. He ran +forward a few steps and walked by the side of Tom. He didn't want to +hear anything more against the giant. In truth, it had begun to seem +to him the best thing of all, having the giant as a companion. He even +hoped that after a time the Masked Lady would take some other road and +leave them. It was rather uncomfortable, her happening to be places +when you were not thinking about her. And if she were to go away there +would be an end to Mr. Literal too. They both might be all right in +their way, but it ought to be a band of children, with nobody else +about. + +And so he put Mr. Literal and the Masked Lady, too, out of his mind. +He was talking eagerly to Tom when they got back to where the others +were. He called out gladly, when he came within hearing of them, "He's +going with us. And what do you think? We've got a dog!" + +There was general rejoicing when the dog made his appearance, running +from one to another to get acquainted. And then, as they had already +been delayed quite a little, they made haste to continue on their +journey. + + + + +PART III + +ARGUMENT: EVERYCHILD VIEWS WITH AMAZEMENT A FAMOUS DWELLING-PLACE, AND +IS GRIEVED BY THE PLIGHT OF AN UNFORTUNATE PRINCE. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A STRANGE HOUSE IN THE FOREST + +Together they traveled along the road the greater part of the day +without mishap and without any experience worth recording. + +As was her custom, the Masked Lady did not make her appearance among +them as long as they were quite light-hearted, and Everychild went so +far as to congratulate himself upon having seen the last of her. + +Toward evening they came within sight of a path leading into the road +on which they traveled, and on a stile which stood in the way of the +path they observed a little boy who was plainly in trouble. + +With much difficulty the little boy crawled up the stile, step by step; +and when he got to the top step and paused a minute, he turned about, +just as small children will do, and began climbing down the stile on +the other side, moving feet foremost. + +Now and again he looked over his shoulder to be sure that his feet had +been safely placed before he put his weight on them; and when he did +this you could see his face, showing two eyes very bright with +excitement and fear. + +At last he had got clear over the stile; and then he stood erect and +put his finger in his mouth. You could tell that he was trying to +think what to do now. + +In the meantime Everychild and his companions had come up. + +"Such a cute little chap," said Everychild. Then he spoke to the +child. "Where are you going, little boy?" he asked. + +The little boy looked at Everychild blankly. He looked at him quite a +long time. Then he looked at the other members of the band. Finally +he looked at Everychild again, still with a blank expression. But at +last he replied, "I want to go home, but I dasn't." + +The band of travelers all laughed at this; whereupon the little boy +looked at all of them, one after another. He still had his finger in +his mouth, where he kept crooking it and uncrooking it. + +Then Cinderella asked: "Why dare you not go home?" + +The little boy lowered his eyes until they rested on the ground. +"Because I dasn't," he said. + +"But why?" persisted Cinderella. + +A pause; and then, "Because I'll catch a lickin'." + +It seemed to Everychild that the little boy was much too small to be +whipped; and he said with assurance, "You may go with us, if you will, +and then you'll never get a whipping again." + +But the little boy only shook his head. Clearly there was a difficulty +in the way of accepting the invitation. And presently he began, +falteringly, "My brothers and sisters . . ." + +"Oh," said Cinderella, understanding, "he doesn't want to leave his +brothers and sisters." + +"But we could take your brothers and sisters, too," said Everychild to +the little boy. + +The little boy now gazed at Everychild, and the blank expression in his +eyes was there no more. + +"Come, we'll get them," declared Everychild. "Do you live far away?" + +"There," said the little boy, pointing away into the forest, where not +a sign of a house was visible. + +Here Grettel spoke for the first time: "Let's not," she said. "I don't +think I care about wandering away into the woods." + +"We might get lost," suggested Cinderella. + +And now the giant interposed. "I agree with Everychild that we ought +to take the little boy and his brothers and sisters with us," he said; +"and as for wandering away into the woods, that will not be necessary. +I'll take you to the house where the little boy lives by a secret +method which I understand." + +With that he faced the depths of the forest and stood very erect, with +hands uplifted. There was a very solemn expression in his eyes. And +suddenly it seemed that the nearby trees began to lift and disappear; +and presto!--Everychild and his companions were standing quite close to +one of the most famous and remarkable houses ever heard of. + +Everychild had too little time just then to marvel at the strange feat +which had been performed by the giant. He was lost in amazement at the +house before which he stood. + +It was really an immense, dilapidated shoe, patched and broken. The +toe was about to gape open, though it was held here and there by a few +threads. The laces were gone and the whole upper sprawled shapelessly. +In brief, it was precisely like any old shoe you will see on a vacant +lot, save for its immense size. Its size was prodigious. It was as +large as a small house. + +A stovepipe stuck out where the little toe would be, and smoke was +pouring out of the pipe just as if some one had been putting a supply +of fuel on the fire. It was woodsmoke and had a pleasant smell. It +seemed that perhaps some one was preparing supper. + +Not a soul was in sight about the house--or the shoe--nor about the +premises. Yet you could see that some one had been hard at work only a +short time before. The wash had been hung out to dry and it was still +damp. It hung from a line which was suspended from the highest point +of the shoe--where the strap is that you pull it on by--to the limb of +a nearby tree. You could tell by the garments that there were a lot of +children about. There were best shirts and every-day shirts and +petticoats and trousers. There were many colors, so that they all made +a rather gay spectacle. And some were of ordinary size, and some were +quite tiny. + +There were many trees in the background; and one of these cast its +shade over the immense shoe in a very pleasing way. There was a table +under the tree, and a kind of dinner-bell hanging from a limb of the +tree. There were chairs about the table. Finally, there was a ladder +standing against the shoe, so that you could climb up and get in at the +top. + +"And so," said Everychild in a tone of wonder, "this is where you +live!" He had taken the little boy by the hand. + +The little boy was about to reply when something almost alarming +happened. The little boy slipped his hand away from Everychild's and +shrank back until he was hiding behind Cinderella's skirt. An +astonishing head and shoulders appeared above the top of the shoe! + +The Old Woman who Lived in the Shoe had heard them. She remained +perched in her place, glaring severely about the yard below. + +Nor was this all. Other individuals inside the shoe had evidently +heard the voice of Everychild. And now they began to peep out in the +most extraordinary fashion. Three pairs of eyes appeared at the broken +toe of the shoe. And up the double row of eye-holes, all the way up +the front of the shoe, startled faces were to be seen. You could see +excited eyes with hair hanging down before them. + +All this proved too much for the little black dog, who had gone forward +from Tom's side to inspect the shoe. Now he began barking excitedly at +the half-hidden faces. + +Everychild stood in his place, wide-eyed and with beating heart. + +The Old Woman arose more fully into view. She stared down at +Everychild. She flung the hair back from her face. + +"Humph!" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN ELABORATION OF ONE OF HISTORY'S MOST SUCCINCT CHAPTERS + +Everychild's companions drew back behind the shelter of a convenient +bush. The Old Woman's countenance really did seem, for the moment, +quite ferocious. But Everychild did not move. + +The Old Woman arose still higher and stepped out of the top of the shoe +to the top rung of the ladder. She carried a steaming pot in one hand, +and thus handicapped she descended the ladder. + +She placed the steaming pot on the table and then turned her attention +to Everychild. She exclaimed dubiously: "You're not one o' mine!" + +He shook his head. "No, ma'am," he replied. + +She sat down deliberately, drawing a long breath, but without taking +her eyes from Everychild. "Just an idler," she said, "like all the +rest of the young ones. I don't know what's the matter with them these +days--children. When I was young I had to work. I expected nothing +less. And I tell mine what was good enough for me is good enough for +them." + +She made this statement as if she hadn't left a single thing to be said. + +It seemed rather obscure to Everychild. He tried to think of a more +agreeable subject. He looked the Old Woman's house over, up and down. +"It's rather a funny house, isn't it?" he remarked. + +The Old Woman's manner became more sullen than ever. She seized upon a +ladle and began stirring the steaming pot. "It does very well," she +declared. "Houses are funny or otherwise according to what goes on in +them. When you've got your hands full of children who don't want to +work you can't say that your house is exactly funny. Its being an old +shoe--if that's what you mean . . . that's a matter of taste. I prefer +it, for my part. I'd never have been able to settle down anywhere +else. You see, I had to be on my feet mostly all the time from little +on, and now it comes natural, being in a shoe. I can imagine I'm on +the go, even if I never get out from one week's end to another." + +She lifted the ladle from the pot. She pressed one hand to her bosom +and with the other lifted the ladle to her lips, testing the stew. +There was a thoughtful look in her eyes. Then she continued: + +"_As for living in a shoe . . . there's plenty of females that live in +two_. Always on the go, they're that restless. I tell my undergrowth +it's no more disgrace to live in one shoe than in two, so long as +you've got one that's big enough." + +[Illustration: "As for living in a shoe . . . there's plenty of females +that live in two."] + +She seemed so pleased with this remark that she had to stir the pot +vigorously, as a relief to her emotions. + +There was a surprising interruption just here. The Masked Lady and Mr. +Literal were there, after all, standing close behind Everychild. And +Mr. Literal was saying: "She seems to be a bit of a cynic. That +reference to women on the go . . . _what period should you say she +belongs to_?" + +"To every period," said the Masked Lady. After which, fortunately, +they remained silent. "And your children," said Everychild. "I don't +see them anywhere." + +"They'll be here soon enough. I hire 'em out by the day--the boys. I +tell 'em if they won't work for me I'll put 'em under masters who'll +make 'em work. They gather fagots--the boys. The girls are in the +house. They did the wash to-day and I keep 'em under my eye until it's +time to take the clothes in. Nothing like keeping a girl under your +eye if you want to know where she is." + +She got up with an air of great industry and went to the line where the +wash was hanging. + +She tried the garments with her hand. It seemed they were now dry +enough to be taken in. She stepped to the bell suspended from the tree +and struck it sharply with a little mallet which had been provided for +this purpose. + +Wonder of wonders!--the top of the shoe began to overflow with girls! +They were rather carelessly dressed, and there was hair in their +eyes--they took after their mother in this matter--but being young, +they were all fresh and blooming in a way. + +They could leave the shoe only one at a time. They began descending +the ladder in a sort of procession. You would have thought the last +one would never make her appearance. + +They paid very little attention to Everychild. They began taking in +the wash. Some held their arms out to receive the clothes which others +removed from the line. They took the line down the last thing of all. +They wound it up carefully. + +Just at this time there were stealthy movements all about the house, as +if robbers were coming. From among the trees the boys began to steal +home. They came from various directions, all walking on tip-toe. Many +of them hung back fearfully, though two of them found courage enough to +come up close to Everychild. + +"You must be the boys coming home," said Everychild. + +The first son nodded, but kept his eyes fixed anxiously on the Old +Woman. She was glaring at a girl ascending the ladder. "Look sharp +where you put those things, now," she was saying. "I'll be inside in a +minute, and if you haven't put them away properly I'll know the reason +why!" + +Everychild felt that he was fully justified in saying (to the first +son) "She seems to be pretty bad, doesn't she!" + +The first son fairly jumped. "Not so loud!" he whispered. "She might +hear you." + +The Old Woman really had heard. She stared at her first son in a +terrible manner. "So you've come, have you?" she exclaimed. "And I +suppose you'll tell me you've been working hard all day?" + +"Yes, mother," replied the first son, "We've carried more fagots than +you ever saw. Such fine fagots! Didn't we?" He turned to the second +son to have his report verified. + +"You wouldn't believe how many fine fagots we carried," declared the +second son. + +The other sons began to appear one by one, now that the first shock of +battle was over. They all stared up at the Old Woman as if they were +prepared to run if she so much as sneezed. + +"Well, you know what's coming to you now," said the Old Woman. "Come +on, all of you!" + +They all began to make wry faces. "If we could only have some bread +with it, mother!" pleaded the first son. + +"You'll take what's offered you!" exclaimed the Old Woman grimly. + +"And if you wouldn't whip us to-night, mother--anyway, not so soundly," +said the second son. + +To this the Old Woman retorted: "Who does the whipping around here, I'd +like to know? Come here this instant!" + +It seemed that there was to be a brief respite, however; for the Old +Woman turned to the steaming pot and began testing its contents with +great seriousness, lifting the ladle to her lips again and again, and +looking abstractedly far away into the forest. + +In the meantime more of the children gathered around Everychild. A few +of the girls now joined their brothers. They looked at Everychild with +unconcealed admiration. + +"What do you suppose she is going to do to you?" asked Everychild of +the group about him. + +The first son replied to this: "I should think you'd know. Haven't you +been told how she whips us something terrible?" + +Everychild inquired in amazement: "All of you?" + +The first daughter now spoke. "All of us," she said. "Every last one +of us. That's just before she puts us to bed, you know." + +"Of course--I remember now," said Everychild. "She 'whips you all +soundly.'" + +"That's no word for it," declared the first son. "You know she's had +an awful lot of experience all these years. And there's so many of us." + +He concluded this sentence in so meek a manner that Everychild +exclaimed indignantly, "I think it ought to be stopped. If I were you +. . . did you ever try hiding her whip?" + +The first daughter replied hopelessly, "We couldn't do that. Her whip +. . . it's the kind of whip that grows, you understand." + +"Some sort of limb?" + +"You might call it that. But it's her own limb." + +"Yes, if she got it first." + +"She did. It's her hand." + +"Do you mean," demanded Everychild, "that she whips all of you with her +hand?" + +"And does a thorough job, too," said the first daughter. + +Everychild assumed a very grave air. "How often does this happen?" he +asked. + +"Every night," he was assured. + +He made a very wry face. "But such things . . ." He couldn't think of +the right word at first. Then he asked, "But isn't it all very--very +vulgar?" + +The first daughter sighed. "I suppose so," she admitted. "But when +there are so many children you can't help being a little vulgar." + +The first son put in here: "And you mustn't think too hard of mother. +You can imagine her position: so many of us, and the high cost of +living, and all. Sometimes I think she whips us just to get our minds +off our stomachs. You know, a supper of broth without any bread--and +that's just what it is--is about as bad as nothing at all. But if +you've been whipped soundly you forget about being hungry. You think +about running away, or something like that. And the next thing you +know it's morning." + +Everychild still felt very uncomfortable. "But how does she manage +about breakfast?" he asked. + +"Oh, she has to feed us well in the morning--to keep us from starving," +explained the first son. + +Everychild nodded as if the matter had been made perfectly clear. And +then the Old Woman cried out quite alarmingly, "Are you coming, or +shall I have to fetch you?" + +Several of the children replied to this: "We're coming!" Nevertheless +they did not go immediately. The first daughter would not go without +saying to Everychild, "Of course we ought to invite you to have supper +with us--but you see it isn't quite like a regular supper." She +blushed painfully. + +Everychild reassured her immediately. "Don't think of it," he said. + +The second son also had something else to say. "I suppose there aren't +so many of you at your house?" he asked. + +"So many children?" replied Everychild. "No. Not any, now. I was the +only child." + +This had the effect of exciting all the sons and daughters. The second +son voiced the amazement which they all felt. "You don't say so!" he +exclaimed. "But how did you ever get anything to wear? If there was +no one ahead of you, how could they make anything over for you?" + +Everychild really did not understand this. "Why, my mother used to get +things for me," he said. + +"Your mother, certainly," said the second son. "But who wore your +clothes before you got them?" + +"No one, I suppose. You mean that your clothes . . . ?" + +"They're made over from the things the older children have grown too +big for." + +Everychild was more and more puzzled. "Yes," he said, "but the oldest +one of all--there had to be a beginning!" + +The second son laughed. "In the beginning," he explained, "they have +to be cut down from father's things." + +"Oh--your father's!" exclaimed Everychild. Then in a polite murmur, +"I--I never heard of your father." + +The second son explained this simply. "You never do, when there are so +many children," he said. + +While Everychild was nodding slowly in reply to this the scene suddenly +changed. + +The Old Woman took two or three steps in the direction of her sons and +daughters; and the sons and daughters, seeing there was no hope for +them, approached her with hanging heads. + +The scene which followed was such that Everychild felt certain he could +never forget it. One after another the children were seized and fed a +few spoonfuls of the broth without any bread. Then each was spanked +most soundly. Then one by one they quickly escaped up the ladder until +the last of them had disappeared. It was all over in a very short time. + +Everychild had now been joined by his companions, who saw the last of +the Old Woman's children scramble up the ladder and disappear. + +As for the Old Woman, she stood a moment, panting, as well she might, +and then she made her way around behind the shoe. Just before she +disappeared she glared at Everychild and actually _made a face at him_! + +Everychild addressed his companions. "I think we ought to get them to +go with us," he said. "That's no way for them to be treated--to be +whipped and sent to bed like that." + +The giant began dreamily--"There ought to be some way . . ." + +Everychild's eyes brightened. "If we could only open the toe of the +shoe--though of course we couldn't!" + +"We could," declared the giant. + +They went forward stealthily. Will o'Dreams following the example of +Everychild and moving without a sound. + +The giant slipped his fingers under the loose ends of the toe of the +shoe and tugged with all his might. After resisting a moment the toe +lifted. + +What a sight do we behold! One child after another came tumbling out +of the shoe until all the Old Woman's sons and daughters had been +liberated. They sprang to their feet excitedly, dusting their garments +and looking grateful and relieved. + +Everychild addressed them briefly, in a low voice: "You're going away +with us, all of you. You're not going to stand such treatment any +longer. We're all going on a great adventure, and you shall go with +us." + +The sons and daughters all made eager signs of assent, though they were +careful not to speak a word. Only the little black dog violated the +rule of silence. He fairly danced about the entire group of children. +And then they all slipped away into the forest. + +Let us, however, remain a moment to note what took place about the shoe. + +Presently the Old Woman emerged from behind the shoe. She was yawning +prodigiously. Slowly she climbed the ladder. She disappeared. But +was this to be the last of her? Not so! + +Only a moment later her head and shoulders again appeared. Her eyes +were staring wildly. She looked this way and that, all about her. Her +eyes clearly revealed that she had realized her loss. At last she +began beating her bosom with both hands. Her hair fell down until you +could scarcely see her face. + +And far off in the forest her children were speeding on their way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +EVERYCHILD WITH ADDITIONAL COMPANIONS FINDS REFUGE IN AN OLD HOUSE + +Everychild and his companions were now journeying through a country +where the evenings were very long; and thus it chanced that after they +had all departed from the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, there was +still a considerable period of daylight before them. + +Their number was now greatly augmented by the sons and daughters of the +Old Woman, and as a result, they were merrier than they had been +before. Just the same, they began to be hungry before night fell, and +they were greatly puzzled as to where they might satisfy their hunger. + +Indeed, it may be confessed that Hansel became really disagreeable, and +remarked--in a muttering fashion, so that no one could be sure of +understanding him--that they might be on the right road to find the +truth, but that if they did not find food in greater abundance before +long, he, for his part, should take some other direction. + +There were moments when Everychild was tempted to turn back; but he +could not doubt that if they all persevered they would come to a +glorious end to their adventure sooner or later, and perhaps very soon. + +Unfortunately, they made so much noise as they journeyed that such +travelers as might have been on the road, and who might by good chance +have offered them food, turned aside and hid from them, fearing, no +doubt, that they were the Forty Thieves, or some other equally +rapacious band. + +Only one incident occurred to break the monotony of the evening hour. +They came upon two adorable little children whom they found clinging +together and weeping freely. + +One of these they recognized immediately as Little Boy Blue; and as +they had never known of his having to bear any very grievous +misfortune, they suspected that his tears might be of the sort that are +easily dried. Yet it developed that Little Boy Blue had not wept until +he had borne up a long time with great fortitude. + +The band paused and Everychild asked, "Why are you weeping, Little Boy +Blue?" + +The reply came between broken sobs. "I could bear it no longer," said +Little Boy Blue. "I was required to watch the cows and the sheep from +early morn till dark, and often I must needs arise at night to run +forth to the fold when there was an alarm of wolves. Day after day my +head grew heavier from want of sleep, until at last I could keep my +eyes open no longer. I stole under the haystack to snatch a few extra +winks, and when I was discovered my shame and disgrace were heralded +forth to all the world." And again the poor child sobbed without +restraint. + +"And this dear little girl with you," asked Cinderella, who had been +walking side by side with Everychild, "who is she?" + +Little Boy Blue checked his grief long enough to stare at Cinderella +incredulously. "Is it possible that there is anywhere a person who +does not recognize Little Bo-Peep?" he asked. + +"So it is!" exclaimed Cinderella. And bending tenderly above the form +of Little Bo-Peep she asked, "And why do you weep so bitterly, Little +Bo-Peep?" + +The child could scarcely speak, so spent was she with weeping; but +little by little Cinderella drew from her the truth. The little thing +was much too small to be entrusted with the care of sheep, and her life +had been made wretched by fear of the great dogs which were never +absent from the flocks, and by the dark rumors of wolves which the +shepherds were forever repeating. + +Grettel expressed her opinion of the case without reserve. "It may be +hysteria," she said, "though it looks more to me like a complete +nervous break-down." + +"I hardly think so," said Cinderella smiling. "We'll just take them +along with us, and they'll be all right." + +And so, with the addition of yet another pair to their numbers, they +quickened their pace along the road. + +They were becoming hungrier every minute--even the sons and daughters +of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, who, as we have seen, had had far +too light a supper--and while they were willing to sleep without +shelter, if they were called upon to do so, they all hoped that they +need not go to sleep supperless. + +While there was still a short period of daylight remaining they came +into an ancient town situated at the foot of a hill on which a castle +stood; and upon questioning a number of the townspeople they learned +that they had entered the realm of a cruel king, who resided in the +castle on the hill. + +"Take my advice and escape while ye may," said one ancient man with a +long white beard. He had addressed Everychild. He added, "The king +hath a grudge against one manly little lad who greatly resembles you, +and if he once sets eyes on you I should tremble for the consequences." + +Everychild thanked the old man for this well-meant counsel. "But," +said he, "my friends and I are weary, and we must think of resting for +the night before we set forth on our way again." + +"Then," said the old man, "you might find shelter in yonder house, +which hath long remained empty, because it is said to be haunted." And +he pointed to a neglected old house hard by the road. "Though," he +added, "I can assure you that the story which hath it that there are +specters in the house is but an idle one. The truth is this: there +once dwelt a good woman and her fair daughter in the house; and the +cruel king seeing the daughter, he commanded straightway that she be +brought to him to become his bride. The good woman, desiring to save +her daughter, escaped; and the henchmen of the king, not wishing the +real truth to be known, invented the story of a ghost in the house. +And since that day no one has ventured to occupy the house after +sundown." + +Everychild thanked the old man again; and then, together with all his +companions, he entered the old house which had been pointed out to him. + +There was, indeed, no trace of ghostly occupants of the house; but on +the contrary, the rooms, upstairs and down, speedily became the scene +of much jollity. It seemed, also, that the old man had spread the +report among the townspeople that a band of children had taken refuge +in the house for the night; and many kindly-disposed folk came and +brought food and drink, so that there was an abundance for all the +children. + +After eating heartily, and looking from the windows to observe the +castle wherein the king dwelt, they all sought a good night's rest. + +And now once again we must leave Everychild and his companions for a +little while, and take our place among surroundings at once strange and +cruel. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HOW THE HAND OF A CHAMBERLAIN TREMBLED + +We are now in a room in the castle of the cruel king, on top of the +hill. + +The four walls of the room were grim and forbidding of aspect. The +tapestry covering them in places was old and of somber design. There +were two doors opening to the room: one on the right and one on the +left. At the far side of the room there was a deep-silled window with +leaded panes through which a dreary light struggled. + +At first you would have said that the room was empty; and then you +would have perceived the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal, occupying a +position among the shadows, not far from the deep-silled window. + +The Masked Lady was again wearing the white garment in which we first +beheld her. She was seated before a desk, writing in a large book in +which you could see a few initial letters in red, outlined in gold. + +Mr. Literal stood by her, regarding her with an impatient, puzzled air. +And presently it would have seemed that he could no longer endure her +silence; for he asked in a fault-finding tone: + +"Can you tell me what you're doing here? This place is--is genuine. +And of late it has been your fancy to haunt places which have existed +only in the imaginations of the story-tellers." + +Without looking up from the Book of Truth (for this was the volume in +which she was writing) the Masked Lady replied: "Did you say that this +place is genuine?" + +"Of course," said Mr. Literal. "We are in a medieval castle in +Northampton--the castle of King John of England. King John or his +chamberlain is likely to enter at any moment. And goodness knows what +they'd say at finding you here." + +The Masked Lady turned a page. "King John would not see me here if he +were to enter," said she; "no, neither here nor anywhere. And as for +honest old Hubert de Burgh . . . well, perhaps I have a purpose in +being here. You have said this place is genuine; yet I sometimes +wonder if any place in all the world is so unreal as the palace of a +king." She gazed before her dreamily for an instant and added, "I can +see a day coming when all such palaces will be viewed by wondering, +emancipated people, their minds filled with incredulity: because they +will realize that kings' palaces have represented the most terrible +delusion of all." + +There was a footfall without at that moment, and the Masked Lady +resumed her writing. + +A bluff, soldierly-appearing man of middle age entered the room: a +bearded man of harsh visage, yet with an eye in which justice sat +enthroned. He looked about the room with an air of dawning relief; and +when two villainous-looking rascals followed him into the room he +remarked, with a sigh: "He's not here. And that's a bit of luck at +least--to have no one about whilst we mix this devil's brew." Then +more briskly: "A red-hot iron--red-hot, do you hear?--in a hurry!" + +The first attendant, to whom he had spoken, glanced darkly at the +second door of the room, which remained closed. "A hot iron? Yes, +sir," he said, trying to speak naturally. "It shall be prepared." + +The second attendant seemed incapable of remaining silent--after the +manner of sorry men. "It will be quite simple, sir," he said. + +Hubert de Burgh (for the soldierly-appearing man was he) turned upon +them fiercely. "Enough!" he exclaimed. "I don't know how men of your +breed go about a task like this, but Hubert de Burgh has always faced +the truth. Listen: When you've fetched me the hot iron you'll hide +behind the tapestry there. And when I stamp on the floor you'll come +quickly and bind him hand and foot." + +The first attendant found courage to say: "Bind him? A little lad like +that? A man might do the job with one hand without half trying." + +But Hubert de Burgh gazed at the man darkly. "Look you, fellow," he +said, "there are forces besides a man's hands which are powerful. His +very helplessness and innocence . . . I think they shall paralyze my +hands and make me helpless. Do as I say: bind the boy and stand near, +ready to lend a hand." + +Whereupon the first and second attendants withdrew, staring as if with +terror at the unopened door near which they had to pass. + +Hubert de Burgh took no further notice of them, but dropped into a +chair and stared straight before him. + +At this point Mr. Literal began rubbing his hands and smiling with +pleased excitement. "It seems," he remarked to the Masked Lady, "that +we're to be in on a really famous event--the slaying of Prince Arthur. +It's a great opportunity of its kind. It will give me a chance to +confute the historians who have quarreled among themselves about how +the poor boy met his death. How--er--how should you say he dies?" + +The Masked Lady replied tranquilly: "He does not die. He lives forever +to proclaim to all mankind that the way of kings is an evil way." + +It was now that Hubert de Burgh bestirred himself as if he could no +longer bear to be alone with his thoughts. He cried out +sharply--"Arthur! Arthur!" + +The second door now opened and Prince Arthur appeared: a handsome boy, +perhaps fourteen years of age, straight of limb and noble of +countenance. He wore a velvet suit, including knee breeches and silk +hose and gaiters, and a jacket with a flowing lace collar. + +He regarded Hubert de Burgh with dull eyes which slowly began to +brighten. "Oh, it's you?" he cried after a pause. And then, "If you +could know how glad I am to see you!" And then, falteringly, +"Hubert--when you were a boy, were you ever kept hidden away as if you +meant ill to every one?" + +And now he approached Hubert with a wistful air, and leaned against his +knee, and placed his hand on his shoulder. + +But the chamberlain flinched beneath the weight of that light hand. +"There, there, Arthur!--take your hand away!" he said. And then, with +an attempt to be severe, "We'll have none of that, you know!" + +Prince Arthur pondered, and then his eyes brightened. "I'm glad you +said that, Hubert," he declared. "If you feel that way toward me you +can tell me why--why all the others feel so. Every face I look into +seems either to pity or to hate me; and I'd so like people to be +friendly. Tell me, why must I take my hand away?" + +The stern man plucked at his beard thoughtfully; and suddenly he turned +to the boy with a quality of stern candor which was a true prince's +due. "Listen, boy," he said. "It is the fate of kings to tremble at +many things: at the too great misery of their subjects, at their too +great liberty; at the touch of those who claim to be friends, at the +whisper of a foe's voice. They have taught themselves that they rule +by divine right, yet they move by day and by night like any thief who +carries booty beneath his cloak when he walks before those in +authority, or like one who is wounded unto death who would hide his +wound from a strong adversary. Your Uncle John fears you, Arthur, +because his throne is yours by right--if there were such a thing as +right to any throne. And he has willed that you must die. He has +appointed me . . . but there, I must to my task. No struggling, +now--no resistence. It will be better so. The king's will be done." + +He would have summoned his attendants then, but Prince Arthur stayed +him with one more question. "And how would you take my life, dear +Hubert?" he asked in a gentle voice. + +But this the chamberlain would not tell him. Instead he stamped on the +floor and the two attendants entered hurriedly, one bearing a hot iron +and the other a cord with which to bind the prince's hands and feet. +"These," said Hubert, "will make plain the manner of the deed." + +But Arthur only clapped his hands in mirth. "It is your way of +jesting, Hubert," he said, "to amuse me." But there was a catch in his +voice as he continued, "It is your way of driving away the shadows +which hang about me always. Dear Hubert, I know what a kind heart you +have!" + +But despite these brave words he turned pale and suddenly clapped his +hands to his eyes to shut out the terrible vision he had beheld. + +Hubert cried out huskily to the attendants, "Bind him--and be quick!" + +With this the attendants seized the prince, one on either side. Yet +they paused when they perceived that the prince wished to speak: a +final word to the chamberlain. The boy had turned upon Hubert a calm +glance. A strange stillness had come over him. He spoke in a low, +intense voice-- + +"Do not permit them to bind me," he said. "It would be shameful for a +prince to be bound. I know you were not speaking in jest, but please +do not let them bind me, as if I were a slave. I shall think of you as +my friend--as long as my hands are free. Come, Hubert . . . do you +recall how, when your head once ached, I put my handkerchief about it +to comfort you? It was one that a princess did make for me. Remember +how I have loved you--and do not let them bind me!" + +His plea prevailed. "So--then they shall not!" cried Hubert. And to +the attendants he exclaimed fiercely, "Begone! Did I not bid you be +swift, that the very blood in my veins should not turn to water? +Fellows--begone! It may be that my task will be easier if I work alone +and he resist me." + +The two attendants turned in terror before the wrath of the chamberlain +and fled. And before Hubert had withdrawn his eyes from their +retreating forms certain strange events came to pass. + +The Masked Lady had remained, strangely tranquil, before the Book of +Truth; but now she lifted her eyes, because the great windows with +their leaded panes had been thrust open. Outside the open windows +there were revealed the head and shoulders of the giant, Will o'Dreams. + +The giant paused long enough to take in the scene before him, and then +he disappeared in great agitation. + +A moment later he had reappeared and had lifted Everychild to a level +with the window sill. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HOW AN UNFORTUNATE PRINCE ESCAPED + +The giant could be heard whispering to Everychild: "I cannot enter +here. The things which are taking place in this room--they stagger me. +But you may do so." Whereupon he placed Everychild on the window sill +and withdrew with a shudder. + +A light leap, and Everychild was in the room, advancing and taking in +his surroundings with amazed eyes. But no one paid any attention to +him. Hubert de Burgh stood near Prince Arthur, a smoking iron in his +hand. The two attendants closed the door behind them with a crash. +Then Arthur spoke again: + +"I could not bear to have them looking, Hubert," he said. "It will be +easier, just we two alone. I am ready now." + +It was then that Hubert gripped Arthur by the shoulder; he brought the +hot iron close to his face. And then again his resolution failed him. +His hand trembled; he paused. Presently he was gazing away over the +prince's head, almost as if he saw a vision, and his hand on the boy's +shoulder slowly relaxed. + +"A strange lad!--a strange lad!" he mused. And then looking +wonderingly at Arthur he added, "The agony is gone from your eyes when +you look at me now. And yet it is I who would destroy you--not those +fellows who made you tremble so!" + +The prince drew himself up with unconscious pride. "I would rather +suffer at the hands of those I love than receive benefits from +hirelings," he said. + +But Hubert shook his head darkly. "Hirelings?" he repeated. "Ah, who +is not a hireling, when a king may have his way? Who can call his +honor his own, when a crown is counted a more sacred thing than a man's +soul?" He paused in silence again and then added almost +banteringly--yet with a note of earnestness, too--"Come, boy, the young +have wary eyes and swift feet. Can you not flee and escape from the +wrath and fear of your uncle the King?" + +But Arthur shook his head. "I think when your work is done, dear +Hubert," he said, "the fear of the king and his wrath will trouble me +no more." + +Hubert frowned darkly. "That is an old man's creed," he cried. "It is +monstrous that a child should welcome death!" + +He turned away from Arthur and fixed his blank eyes in the direction of +Everychild. And presently he lifted his trembling hand to his brow, +and there was the light of a terrible vision in his eyes. He began to +speak like one in a dreadful dream-- + +"Methinks I see the face of Everychild!" he mused. "Methinks that +always the face of Everychild shall gaze upon me with horror and +contempt because I slew this gentle lad. Nay, by my faith, I will not!" + +He thrust Arthur from him. "Go your way!" he cried. "Though there +were a thousand King Johns, it shall also be said that there was one +Hubert de Burgh. If heaven has set no bounds to duty, then I owe a +duty to myself as well as to the king. And if a child must needs teach +me that there are things more terrible than death, then let me learn a +lesson from this child who has the soul of a prince, though he may +never wield the scepter of a king. Go free, boy. King John may have a +thousand murderers, but it shall also be said of him that he had for +chamberlain one who was a man." + +With the tread of a soldier, undaunted and unashamed, he left the room. + +For a moment Arthur lifted his face with an expression of intense +relief; but little by little his eyes darkened again and his head +drooped. + +"He has spared me--yet to what end?" he mused. "I have escaped for the +moment, yet in a few days--on what day none may tell--a new jailor, a +poisoned cup, a summons up a broken stairway in the dark, a ride on the +river in a mist . . . Ah, woe is me! How shall I really escape?" + +He stood disconsolate a moment, and then it seemed he saw Everychild +for the first time: Everychild, who came toward him, slowly yet with +assurance. + +"You shall come with me," said Everychild. + +And the prince replied indulgently, "With you, Everychild? But whither +are you going?" + +"I fare forth to find the truth," said Everychild. + +Arthur replied: "It seems you should be a prince if you would find it +soon. I shall find the truth before you, Everychild." + +"We shall find it together," declared Everychild. + +"I was near finding it now," said Arthur; "and even yet I cannot think +it is far away." + +But Everychild had gone to the window, evidently in the hope of seeing +the giant, Will o'Dreams; and while Arthur looked after him hopelessly, +Mr. Literal took occasion to say to the Masked Lady-- + +"He is as beautiful as tradition has pictured him. Small wonder that +his foolish mother was moved to speak of him so eloquently. Do you +remember?-- + + "'Grief fills the room up of my absent child, + Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, + Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, + Remembers me of all his gracious parts, + Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form: + Then have I reason to be fond of grief.'" + + +Then the giant appeared at the window and there was a hurried +conference between him and Everychild. Soon the latter turned +confidently toward Arthur. + +"Come, you shall go with me," said Everychild eagerly. + +It seemed for an instant that the prince was really hopeful. Then +again his dark mood returned--the mood of one who believes he is lost. +Yet nevertheless he put forth his hand to Everychild and said, "Yes, I +will go with you." + +He approached the window with slow, majestic tread. Once he shrank +back and lifted his hands to his eyes. Then he climbed resolutely to +the window sill. He could be seen for an instant, and then he +disappeared. + +Seeing that he had vanished, Everychild hurried to the window, his face +elated. "Splendid!" he cried. "Now he shall be my companion to the +end of time!" + +Then the giant could be seen at the window. He put forth his hands and +lifted Everychild through the window. + +A moment, and then Hubert de Burgh re-entered the room. He cast a +swift, agitated glance about the room, and soon he noted the open +window. + +"The window!" he cried in a loud voice. "God save us all!" + +He stood staring at the open window; and as he did so the Masked Lady +hid her face in her arms upon the Book of Truth before her. She was +softly weeping. + + + + +PART IV + +ARGUMENT: EVERYCHILD'S FEET ARE DRAWN TO THE SPOT WHERE THE SLEEPING +BEAUTY IN THE WOOD LIES. TIME PASSES. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A SONG IN THE GARDEN + +While Everychild and the giant had made their visit to the castle of +the cruel king, their companions had remained in the old house at the +foot of the hill, and great was their delight when the two who had been +absent returned, bringing with them Prince Arthur, toward whom all the +children felt immediately drawn. + +It was quickly decided that the prince should be allowed to rest before +they resumed their journey; and as they were very comfortable where +they were, they agreed not to stir until the next day. They still had +an abundance to eat; and besides, they had not yet explored the walled +garden, very shady and inviting, which they could see from the kitchen +windows. + +In the afternoon, then, they all invaded the walled garden, where they +found much to gladden their hearts. The juniper trees were quite +perfect; and the flowers, though they had been so long neglected, +seemed really to have been waiting for them. The different kinds of +flowers each had a bed of their own; the larkspur and poppies and +coxcomb and hollyhocks and columbines, and each seemed to lean forward +and say, "Come and see us! Come and see us!" And so the children made +the rounds of the garden, visiting each variety of flower. + +At last they sat down on the stone benches which surrounded a fine +grass-plot with an ancient sundial in the middle. + +Many of the children were content to sit quietly and rest; but Little +Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue, being very young, and naturally rather +playful, could not restrain themselves, and they took their places on +the grass and began to play. They looked simply charming: Little +Bo-Peep being dressed in a white frock with short sleeves having any +number of flounces. She wore a Gainesborough hat of delicate +materials, with cherry ribbons ending in tassels of the same color +hanging down behind. She also wore red slippers having buckles set +with rubies. + +Little Boy Blue was arrayed in blue rompers, cunningly made of one +piece, and very ample. + +It seemed that they had long resided close to each other, and had often +played together; and now, almost without any pre-arrangement at all, +they began a game which consisted of singing and dancing. + +[Illustration: They began a game which consisted of singing and +dancing.] + +They stood facing each other on the grass, and Little Boy Blue began +the following song: + + "Oh, Little Bo-Peep, when the sun is shining + And the birds are up in the tree; + When there's never a cause for sad repining, + And we're happy as we can be; + When breezes blow through the vale and hollow, + And glade and garden and glen, + Oh, whom does your heart in its rapture follow, + And whom do you think of then?" + + +Little Bo-Peep listened, smiling, and with her head a little to one +side, until the stanza was finished, and then she replied as follows: + + "Oh, Little Boy Blue, when the skies are beaming + And my heart is happy and free, + When the green grass smiles, where it lies a-dreaming, + And the birds are up in the tree, + I lift my eyes to the arch above us, + So soft and tender and blue, + And I know that the earth and the sky both love us, + And I tenderly think of you, + Of you, + Of you, of you, of you!" + + +Then they both bowed graciously and began their dance. They advanced +toward each other so that the palms of their right hands touched; and +then they receded, moving obliquely; and then advanced again, touching +the palms of their left hands. A moment later they had clasped both +hands, holding them high, and were hopping about in a circle. + +But it seemed that the song was not yet finished; and presently they +were facing each other again, and Little Bo-Peep sang the following +stanza: + + "Oh, Little Boy Blue, when the star of even + Hangs low o'er the lonely hill, + When the night-wind sighs through the fields of heaven + And the world is lonely and still; + When you almost fear that the birds and flowers + Will never waken again, + And you lie and dream through the long night hours, + Oh, whom do you dream of then?" + + +No sooner had Little Bo-Peep completed her stanza than Little Boy Blue +responded: + + "Oh, Little Bo-Peep, from my friendly pillow + I gaze at the even star; + Then I sail away on a gentle billow, + Where dreaming and visions are. + And never a doubt nor a fear assails me + The whole of the long night through, + And the welcomest dream of all ne'er fails me, + For I constantly dream of you, + Of you, + Of you, of you, of you!" + + +They repeated their dance at the end, and then, blushing and stumbling, +they made their way to one of the stone benches and sat down. + +All the children applauded generously; but during the silence which +followed, Grettel remarked: + +"For my part, I like games that have kissing in them." + +Cinderella merely gazed at her, in reply to this, with lifted chin and +half-closed eyes. + +Then Hansel observed: "If you'd leave it to me, I'd prefer sitting at a +table where there'd be something left after you'd filled yourself as +full as a drum." + +Prince Arthur seemed to feel that Hansel and Grettel had struck a wrong +note, and he said, "Upon my word, it seemed to me that the singing and +dancing weren't half bad!" + +"They were just perfect," declared Everychild. + +"That's really what Arthur meant," interposed Will o'Dreams. + +There was almost unanimous agreement then that the song and dance had +been very well done, the strongest testimony of all being offered by +the little black dog, who approached Little Boy Blue and asked, quite +as plainly as if he had spoken, to have the entertainment prolonged. + +But as the entire band hoped to be on their way early in the morning, +it was agreed, after a time, that a good night's sleep was the best +thing they could have; and as the sun had now set, they went into the +house, and each chose a place in which to spend the night. + +The clamor of voices soon sank to a sleepy murmur; and presently there +was such silence that the house might indeed have been a haunted one, +just as the village superstition held it to be. + +There would have been nothing more worth recording in the adventures of +that day but for the fact that Everychild, at the last moment, felt an +irresistible desire to explore the attic of the old house. And this he +undertook to do, after all his companions had, as he supposed, fallen +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AN ENCOUNTER IN THE ATTIC + +He moved stealthily about the upper story of the house, trying this +door and that. He did not wish to disturb his companions, for he knew +that a sound in the dark would startle them, especially after they had +been told of the rumor that the house was haunted. + +The first and second doors he tried opened into empty rooms. The third +and fourth, into closets. But the fifth opened to a narrow staircase; +and ascending this on tip-toe, he presently found himself in the attic. + +It was a very solemn place. The eaves sloped down closely as if they +were a sort of hood, meant to hide something evil. There was one +window at the gable end: a broken window, with fragments of glass lying +about it. The light of the moon penetrated the window, making the +fragments of glass glisten, and forming a pale avenue across the dusty +floor. + +There were old chests here and there, all mysteriously closed--perhaps +locked. There were old garments hanging in obscure places. They made +you think of persons lurking there in the dark. Outside the broken +window an owl in a dark tree hooted mournfully. + +Everychild crossed the attic cautiously. Timbers creaked beneath his +feet. The smell of old, abandoned things arose. And suddenly he +stopped short and clinched his hands. Beyond a pale haze of moonbeams +he saw some one sitting on one of the closed chests. + +That form in the gloom was perfectly motionless; and for a time +Everychild tried to convince himself that here was simply another +delusion--that certain old articles of furniture or clothing had been +so arranged as to suggest the form of a human being. + +But no, this could scarcely be. Every outline of the figure was too +real. And besides, the person on the chest now moved slightly. + +Everychild forced himself to advance a step, to move to right and to +left, that he might learn something of that person who sat there in +mysterious silence. And suddenly he found himself smiling and relaxing. + +It was Will o'Dreams who sat there! + +The giant had seen him at last, and he called out pleasantly, "You here +too, Everychild? Come and sit down. There's room for two here on this +old chest." + +"I didn't know you were here," said Everychild. + +"It's the very sort of place I like to visit," was the reply. "If ever +you miss me, you've only to hunt for an old attic near by, and there +you'll find me." + +"I wonder why?" asked Everychild. + +"Ah, I scarcely know. But a great many lovely persons come up into old +attics--mostly children, or else quite old men or women--and I think +they like to find me at such times." + +"And do you never frighten them?" + +The giant laughed. "I've no doubt I do, sometimes. But mostly I am of +real help to them. The old things that are left in attics seem somehow +different if I'm about. Some day you'll understand what I mean. And +the sounds you hear in an attic, and the thoughts that come to you, +seem pleasant in a way, as long as I'm near by." + +Everychild realized immediately that this was true; for at that very +moment the owl in the dark tree outside the broken window hooted--and +the sound was not at all what it had been only a little while ago. + +"It's fine to hear the owl make a noise like that, isn't it?" he asked +of the giant. + +"Is it?" replied Will o'Dreams with a kindly taunt in his voice. +"Suppose you tell me why." + +"I'm not sure I can. But you know it makes you think of so many +wonderful and strange things." + +"Of what?" persisted the giant. + +Everychild pondered a little, and then it seemed that he saw a sort of +vision. "It makes you think of dark forests," he said, "--the very +middle of them. And it makes you think of old ruined castles, with +nothing living about them any more but the ivy climbing up on the +broken walls." + +The giant's eyes were shining in the gloom. "And what else?" he asked +softly. + +"And then you think of the castles as they used to be, long ago. When +there were bright lights in them, and knights and ladies, and music, +and maybe a--what do you call them?--a harper to come in out of the +storm to sit beside the fireplace and tell tales." He seemed unable to +fill in the picture more completely, but Will o'Dreams began where he +had left off: + +"And do you know what is true, as long as you think of the knights and +ladies? It means that they are still living. That's what thinking of +things means--it means keeping them alive. Most persons die when their +children are all dead: at the very latest, when their grandchildren +die. But as long as you think of knights and ladies, and picture their +ways, why, that keeps them alive. It means that they will never die. +That is, as long as there are owls to hoot." He added with a hidden +smile, "And as long as I idle about in old attics." + +"It is very strange," said Everychild, not clearly understanding. + +"It just needs a little thinking about," declared the giant. "And it's +not only in attics that I'm able to help. That old garden we played in +to-day . . . do you know what would happen, if certain persons came +into it while I was there?" + +As Everychild did not know, the giant continued: "They would see the +columbine growing; and straightway they would think of a poor lady +named Ophelia; and then they would think of Shakespeare; and then they +would think of the river Avon; and then they would think of lovely +English meadows, and then they would think of the sea--because the Avon +finally reaches it, you know--and then they would think of ships, and +then of Columbus, and then of America, and then of millions of new +gardens where the columbine of England found new homes." + +Everychild was trying to see the pictures as they passed; but he could +not quite keep up. And after Will o'Dreams had finished he remained +silent, going over it all in his mind. + +But the giant interrupted him. "There," he said, "we ought not to stay +up too late. You know we want to make an early start to-morrow." + +Everychild's heart prompted him to say impulsively, "And you'll go on +with us? You'll not get tired and leave us on the way?" + +The giant pondered a moment, and then he replied: "No. My search will +carry me as far as your search is to carry you." + +"You haven't told me what it is you're searching for," said Everychild. + +There was a long silence, and then the giant replied: "I scarcely liked +to speak of it; yet if we are to be friends, perhaps I may do so. The +truth is, I am seeking my mother." + +Everychild felt a little thrilled. He recalled what Mr. Literal had +said of the giant--how he had been driven away from home because of the +evil he had done. He had refused to believe what Mr. Literal had said; +yet what was the meaning of what the giant was now saying? + +"I lost my mother long ago," the giant resumed. "I can't explain just +how it was. But there were many who mistrusted me in my childhood and +believed I wasn't up to any good. They said I was made up of lies. +They drove me from their houses and closed their doors on me. And my +mother and I got lost from each other. From that day to this I have +had bad days when I've feared that all my enemies ever said about me +was true. But it is only occasionally I have a bad day. You see, I +remember my mother's ways so well that it seems almost as if she were +with me, much of the time. But I know well that if I could find her, +never to lose her again, I should never have another evil thought. And +so it is that I constantly dream of finding her, and go about the world +seeking her. And I never see a beautiful lady without stopping to ask +myself in a whisper, 'Can it be she?'" + +"Was she so beautiful, then?" asked Everychild. + +"Ah, I cannot tell you how beautiful. So straight and tall and brave, +yet with a great tenderness a little hidden from sight. Her lips +curved a little, mournfully, as if she had been singing a sad song; yet +there was an expression in her eyes--a soft, calm expression, which +made everything seem right when you looked into them. There are even +now moments when I feel . . . I scarcely know how to explain it to you. +It's as if she were near by, whispering, and I couldn't think just +where to look for her." + +"I'll help you to look for her," said Everychild heartily. And then +together they quit the attic and went cautiously down the narrow +staircase. + +Only a few moments later they had taken their places among their +companions and had fallen asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE END OF A HUNDRED YEARS + +They all resumed their journey at sunrise, carrying with them a fair +supply of food which the townspeople had brought; and by noon they had +crossed the boundary into a different kingdom, where the cruelties of +the wicked King John were wholly unknown, and where Prince Arthur +became almost the gayest member of the band. + +Late in the afternoon they came within sight of another castle; and as +they were now journeying through a very lonely region, they decided +that it would be a wise plan to apply at this place for accommodations +for the night. + +Somewhat to their dismay, however, they discovered upon drawing nearer +that the castle was surrounded by a forest so dense that not even the +smallest member of the band could penetrate between the trunks and +branches. Nor did there seem to be a road for them to take, the only +thing resembling a road having been abandoned so long that it was quite +overgrown. + +It was here that Will o'Dreams found opportunity to render a most +important service. Without the slightest spirit of boasting he stepped +forward, saying, "Follow me!" + +To the amazement of all, the trees parted so that a way was opened and +the entire band now found it quite easy to follow in the footsteps of +the giant. + +Together they all began to climb the hill in the direction of the +mysterious castle. + +But while the children are wending their way up the hill, let us take +leave of them for a time, that we may have a peep at one of the rooms +of the castle. + + +The room has been described as "the finest room in a king's palace," +and while this would seem a somewhat exaggerated statement, there were +at least many evidences of elegance to be noted. + +Rich tapestries hung about the walls. They presented certain stories +from mythology in the form of pictures traced in golden threads. There +were golden candlesticks, and even the chairs and tables were of gold. + +At the far side of the room, which was very large, there appeared to be +a sort of alcove before which a damask curtain was closely drawn. + +Before this curtain sat a lady of honor. She seemed a very great +person indeed, her dress being inferior only to that of a queen in +richness and elegance. She had a double chin and a very large stomach, +which in her day were considered quite suitable to a person in her +position. + +Somewhat out of keeping with the golden furniture and the rich +tapestries was the great fireplace containing an almost commonplace +crane and kettle, and bordered by irregular areas of smoked wood and +stone, indicating that the ventilation of the room needed looking after +in the worst way. + +In addition to the lady of honor there were other persons in the room: +a scullion, or cook, with rather comical features and a red nose, who +sat before the fireplace; a line of guards in mailed armor who were +stationed around the walls, finely erect, with spears held +perpendicularly, their ends resting on the floor; and a herald, or +messenger, standing just inside an inner door. + +But--wonderful to relate--the lady of honor, the scullion, the guards +in mail, and the herald, were all sound asleep! Moreover, they had all +been sound asleep for precisely one hundred years. + +I should add that two other individuals already known to us were in the +room: the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal. The Masked Lady held in her +hands a time-glass precisely like an hourglass in every respect, save +that it was designed to measure the passage of a full century. The +last grains of sand were just falling when she looked up, startled, +because Mr. Literal had broken the stillness by yawning. He was +plainly bored, and he was looking about the room at the various +sleepers as if he were thoroughly tired of them all. + +After Mr. Literal had finished his yawn a truly unearthly silence +reigned. There wasn't so much as the ticking of a clock or the falling +of embers in the fireplace. Silence, a long, long silence. + +Then a distant door opened and closed sharply. There was the muffled +tramp of many feet. And then--what have we here? Everychild entered +the room! + +He was followed instantly by Cinderella, Hansel and Grettel, Will +o'Dreams, Prince Arthur, Tom Hubbard, Little Bo-Peep, Little Boy Blue, +the children of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe (who numbered some +forty boys and girls all told), and last of all, the little black dog. + +There was necessarily a good deal of bustle and noise while the members +of the band were entering; but when Everychild had had time to look +about him he was smitten with silence, and all his companions suddenly +became as quiet as mice. + +Then Everychild perceived the Masked Lady, and for once he was very +glad to see her. He approached her eagerly, if somewhat timidly. + +"What is this strange place?" he whispered. + +And as the Masked Lady did not reply to him, he turned to Cinderella. +"Am I--are we--dreaming?" he asked. + +Cinderella reassured him promptly. "We are not dreaming," she said. +"I have seen other places as beautiful. The ballroom where I +danced--it might have been in this very castle. Yet how strange it is +to find them all asleep!" And she gazed about the room with amused +wonder. + +"And the way the forest opened as we climbed the hill," added +Everychild, "just as if we were expected. Did anything like it ever +happen before?" + +The Masked Lady remarked almost dreamily: "When Everychild seeks the +place where the Sleeping Beauty lies, forests always open and the +steepest paths are easy to climb." + +Everychild caught at the name. "The Sleeping Beauty--I have heard of +her," he said. And he added, "Is she here?" + +The Masked Lady did not reply in words, but the obscure smile on her +lips was very significant. + +It was Cinderella who clasped her hands in sudden ecstacy and cried, +"She must be here. A place so lovely--it couldn't have been meant for +any one else!" She spoke with such elation that all the other children +looked at her with beaming eyes. + +Everychild asked in perplexity--"But if she be here . . . ?" + +"You haven't forgotten, have you?" asked Cinderella. "She was doomed +to sleep a hundred years, until the prince came to waken her with a +kiss." + +"And is she still waiting?" asked Everychild. + +"I haven't a doubt in the world that she is still waiting." + +"She is always waiting," said the dreamy voice of the Masked Lady. + +"But not--not here?" asked Everychild. + +"There's never any telling where you'll find things," replied +Cinderella. "We might look at least." + +No one had observed that the Masked Lady had straightened up with a +very dramatic gesture. _The sand in the glass she held had all fallen_! + +No sooner had she spoken than Cinderella advanced to the alcove hidden +by the damask curtain. The other children watched her intently. She +barely touched the curtain--yet it was drawn aside. And everything +within the alcove became visible. + +There was a perfectly beautiful bed, all trimmed with gold and silver +lace, so it is said. And on it reposed a slight, queen-like young +lady, fully dressed, yet sound asleep. Her cheeks were delicately +tinted, indicating perfect health. Her lips were slightly parted; her +bosom rose and fell tranquilly. A naked little Cupid knelt on her +pillow, his wings aloft, his eyes intently inspecting her closed +eyelids. + +Everychild seemed really to lose control of himself. He gazed, and +then he advanced in a manner so determined that Cinderella drew back, +leaving him alone with the sleeper, save for the Cupid on the pillow +and the lady of honor asleep in her chair. + +"It _is_ the Sleeping Beauty!" exclaimed Everychild. Somehow or other +he knew positively. He knelt down beside her and gazed at her +reverently. Slowly and gently he reached for the hand nearest him. +_He took it into his own; and then--he never could have told what put +it into his head to do so!--he shyly kissed the beautiful hand_. + +And the Sleeping Beauty? She sighed and opened her eyes. For an +instant she gazed dreamily at the ceiling. Then she sat up, placing +her feet on the floor. With wonder and delight she leaned a little +forward, her eyes fixed on Everychild's. + +And then she said, in a voice which would have set the birds to +singing, if there had been any near by-- + +"Is it you, my prince? You have waited a long while!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE AWAKENING + +No sooner had the Sleeping Beauty spoken than a number of things began +to happen. + +The other sleepers in the room opened their eyes. + +The lady of honor was the first to attract attention. She stirred and +placed her fingers against her lips in a very elegant manner to +suppress a yawn. Then she exclaimed very audibly: "Bless my soul--I +must have dropped off for a moment!" + +The sergeant of the guard was seen to open his eyes and glare very +suspiciously at the spear-bearer nearest to him. He exclaimed, upon +noting the stupid expression in the spear-bearer's eyes--"Ah-ha! I +caught you asleep, did I?" + +To which the spear-bearer replied nervously, "Not to say asleep, +exactly, I just closed my eyes because a bit of smoke got into them." + +The scullion by the fireplace opened his eyes and sat quite still for +an instant, all his attention concentrated upon the others in the room, +at whom, however, he was afraid to look. It was his aim to conceal +from them the fact that he had been asleep. + +The kettle on the crane in the fireplace began to sing cheerfully and +an appetizing odor arose. Flames began to dance in the fireplace. + +The lady of honor with affected testiness addressed the Sleeping +Beauty. "It's high time you were stirring, I should say," was her +comment. "It seems to me we are all becoming quite indolent!" + +The Sleeping Beauty would not respond to her mood of bustling levity. +She gazed wonderingly and patiently at the lady of honor; and then +turning her attention to Everychild she said in a dreamy voice-- + +"I think I shall rise!" + +She offered her hand to Everychild, and he assisted her to her feet. I +am informed that "he took care not to tell her that she was dressed +like her great-grandmother, and had a point band peeping over a high +collar." My own belief is that perhaps he scarcely noticed this. + +They moved forward, the Sleeping Beauty maintaining an air of +dreaminess, while Everychild simply could not remove his eyes from +her--she was so perfect! + +All the others in the room were silent, gazing now at the Sleeping +Beauty, and now at Everychild. + +And just at that moment there were evidences of new life in the +adjoining apartments. You could hear some one playing on a spinnet. A +sentry on a distant wall called the hour. Lords and ladies could be +heard laughing together. And then there was a great to-do; the king +and queen, father and mother of the Sleeping Beauty, entered the room! + +There was now a respectful silence for you! You could have heard a pin +drop. Little train-bearers came behind the king and queen. Then came +lords and ladies, and then the court chamberlain, and at last a few +others whose functions I cannot even name. + +The king was pleased to speak presently. "And so you have finished +your nap, daughter?" he said. + +The Sleeping Beauty stood before him with a radiant face. "And only +observe who it was that awakened me!" she replied, inclining her head +toward Everychild. + +Said the king: "He is the guest whose coming was foretold, no doubt. +Long ago it was written that one should awaken you and claim you as his +bride." + +There was general delight and amazement at this: so frankly manifested +that the humblest of Everychild's companions lost all sense of caution. +The smallest son of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe actually +undertook to stand on his head, while the little black dog ran here and +there barking with the utmost freedom. + +In the general excitement Mr. Literal took occasion to remark to the +Masked Lady: "But--dear me!--it's all fiction of the most extravagant +character--the account of the Sleeping Beauty and the rest of it!" + +But the Masked Lady smiled in her puzzling way and said: "When you +would find the truth perfectly told, you will always find it in a +story. It is only facts which lead us hopelessly astray." + +However, the Sleeping Beauty was speaking again. She was replying to +what her father had said. "That's very nice, I'm sure!" she said. And +she turned to Everychild with a blissful smile. + +It seemed the king did not mean that any time should be lost. He +turned majestically to the sergeant of the guard. "Go," said he, "and +bid the trumpeter summon all within hearing to assemble in the chapel." +Then, to those who were assembled in the room, "The wedding shall take +place without delay. Let us to the chapel." + +The sergeant disappeared, and almost immediately there was the sound of +a bugle blowing on the castle wall. + +The king and queen went out, followed by their train-bearers, pages and +others. + +Everychild hesitated; but the Sleeping Beauty, with a reassuring nod, +took his hand, and they followed. + +There was a moment's confusion among Everychild's companions; but they +speedily got themselves into line. Will o'Dreams led them; and there +followed Hansel and Grettel, Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue, Prince +Arthur and Tom Hubbard, the children of the Old Woman who lived in a +shoe, and last of all the little black dog. + +Only Cinderella, with a certain strange quiet upon her, remained in her +place, while the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal stood regarding her. + +Words broke from her tremulously: "And so it is to be the Sleeping +Beauty! I had hoped . . . there was to be one who would find my +crystal slipper and come for me . . ." + +She had scarcely uttered the words when the Masked Lady stepped forward +and touched her face with gentle fingers and kissed her brow. + +A happy transformation occurred in Cinderella's face. She stood gazing +into vacancy a moment, her eyes shining. An instant later she dashed +from the room, to be present at the wedding ceremony. Already, in the +distance, the strains of the Lohengrin march could be heard. + +The Masked Lady would have gone into the chapel then, but she was +detained by Mr. Literal, who said irritably: "That march--you know it's +really quite modern. Wagner, isn't it?" + +The Masked Lady replied with a certain repression: "Beautiful things +are never modern--yet always modern. They have existed always, from +the dawn of time, waiting for the proper occasion for their use. Come, +I must be present at the wedding of Everychild." + +"Still," said Mr. Literal drily, "I should say there have been many +weddings at which you were not present." + +But she was not listening. She had gone; and he smilingly followed. + +The sound of music gradually died away. There was a distant murmur of +voices. Then again the music sounded, louder, with a quality of +triumph in it. Louder and louder it sounded. + +The bridal party returned! Flower girls ran before, scattering +flowers. Everychild and the Sleeping Beauty appeared, followed by the +king and queen. + +A great throng entered the room: lords and ladies, the companions of +Everychild, led now by Cinderella. + +The bride and the bridegroom were surrounded. They were acclaimed in +loud voices. They were lifted aloft. The little black dog barked +madly. + +Such a scene had never been witnessed before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +TIME PASSES + +The same room in the castle--the room where the pomp and ceremony had +been. + +But it was empty now. The flowers which had been scattered on the +floor had been swept away. Silence reigned. + +Presently two doors opened: one on the right, the other on the left. +But though the doors opened, not a sound was to be heard, and for an +instant no one appeared. + +And then--some one was coming. + +Father Time entered at one of the doors. He walked slowly and quietly +across the room. He carried his scythe and sand-glass. He glanced +neither to left nor right. + +He went out at the other door! + + + + +PART V + +ARGUMENT: ON HIS WANDERINGS EVERYCHILD BETHINKS HIM OF HIS PARENTS, AND +DISCOVERS THAT THOUGH HE HAS SEEMED TO LOSE THEM, HE HAS NOT REALLY +DONE SO. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +WILL O'DREAMS REPORTS A DISCOVERY + +We have seen how time passed in the castle where Everychild and his +companions had come to dwell. Now let us see what followed. + +On a beautiful summer day Everychild and the Sleeping Beauty sat in the +great room of the golden furniture and the fire place and the alcove. +They occupied two little golden chairs near the middle of the room. +They were rocking placidly and saying nothing to each other. Now they +rocked backward and forward together, and again they rocked quite +contrariwise. + +And what have we here? Close to the Sleeping Beauty there was a tiny +cradle, all of gold. And in it--well, you could see tresses of +wonderful golden hair, and the most marvelous blue eyes which would +open and shut, and a complexion which was simply perfect. Just now the +eyes were closed. + +At a little distance from them there was a spectacle most beautiful to +behold. This was afforded by the Masked Lady and the task in which she +was engaged. She stood near an immense open window, beside the most +beautiful dove-cote ever seen. It was silver and green, topping a +pillar of gold. It had several compartments, all containing pure white +doves. These were engaged in bringing or carrying messages. At +intervals doves entered the open window and perched on the Masked +Lady's arms. These were placed in the cote and others were removed +from the cote and carried to the window, from which they flew away and +disappeared. + +While the Masked Lady was engaged in this task it was to be noted that +there was a very sad expression in her eyes. She was turning over +certain things in her mind. + +The truth is that Everychild had been married just a year, and she was +thinking how it would be necessary before long for him to be conducted +to the grim Mountain of Reality. She knew that this was a very +terrible experience, or that it would seem so just at first; and that +is why there was a sad expression in her eyes. She knew very well, +however, that the matter could not be put off very much longer. +Indeed, she had been able to detect an occasional shadow in +Everychild's eyes which proved that he was already beginning to see the +formidable Mountain of Reality in the distance. I should also explain +that the messages she was sending and receiving with the aid of the +white doves all had a bearing upon the plan she had in mind of taking +Everychild, ere long, upon the most difficult journey he was ever to +make. + +Although silence reigned in the room, there was the murmur of +children's voices in the distance, occasionally rising to a joyous +shout. The children were clearly at play in some invisible court; and +when their cries were particularly joyous, Everychild and the Sleeping +Beauty glanced at each other and smiled indulgently. + +At length the voices of the children became inaudible; and a moment +later Cinderella entered the room. She stood an instant, her hands on +her hips and an almost impatient expression in her eyes; and then she +approached Everychild and the Sleeping Beauty. + +Everychild glanced up at her with a slightly patronizing smile. "Well, +Cinderella?" he asked. + +She put her hair back rather energetically and exclaimed--"Oh, I'm +bored. That's the honest truth. Those games out there--they _do_ get +so tiresome. And Grettel is such a simpleton, really. She keeps +saying 'Think of something else for us to play, Cinderella--think of +something else.' She never thinks of anything herself. Neither does +Hansel, nor any of them." + +She sighed and glanced back the way she had come, and it was to be +noted that the sound of playing had not been resumed. + +It was the Sleeping Beauty who replied. "Never mind, Cinderella," she +said. "You know I realize quite well what it is to be bored." She had +spoken gently; and now she smiled with a certain playfulness. "The +prince with the missing slipper will find you soon enough. You've only +to be patient, and the day will come when you'll seldom be bored any +more." + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said Cinderella; and with perfect candor she +added, "Aren't _you_ bored? You look it: sitting there as if you +hadn't a single thought in your head." + +The Sleeping Beauty laughed. "You dear, foolish thing!" she replied. +"Bored? The idea! I'm perfectly happy. Of course, there are +times . . ." She broke off and meditated, and actually sighed. "Come, +we'll go and look at the goldfish," she added briskly. + +They went away together, taking cradle and all. All of a sudden they +seemed as energetic as sparrows. They seemed for the moment really +indifferent to Everychild, who remained in his chair alone. + +When they had gone he leaned forward in an elegant yet somewhat +dejected attitude, his hands clasped between his knees. Then he arose, +shrugging his shoulders as if a burden were clinging to them, and +turned toward the Masked Lady. + +"What are you doing?" he asked wonderingly. + +She set free a fine dove, which immediately disappeared through the +window. + +"I am getting ready for a very important journey," she said. + +He watched her intently. Presently he said, in a strange, abashed +tone, "You seem a very nice, kind lady, after all!" + +She did not reply to this, because a dove came in at that instant and +she busied herself placing it in its compartment in the cote. + +He continued to regard her, though he was now studying her face, rather +than taking note of her work with the doves. "Sometimes," he continued +falteringly, "I have a wish to speak to you--I mean, to tell you of +things which I cannot speak of to others." + +"I have tried always, Everychild, to be close to you," she said. + +For an instant it seemed to him that it would not be difficult at all +to speak to her of what was in his heart. And he said, "You know I--I +am not very happy." + +She replied to this with gentle mockery. "Not happy?" she said; "and +yet there are many to play with you, and none to turn away from you +with coldness and indifference--any more." + +He became strangely still. What did she mean by that? He had never +told her about his childhood; he had never mentioned his parents to +her. Whom could she be, that she should know so many things without +having to be told? Or was she speaking only of the present, without +reference to the past? + +"My playmates are all friendly," he said; "but you know I have come far +from home . . ." + +When he faltered she added, "But have you found what you started out to +find?" + +He was a little embarrassed. "What I started out to find?" he echoed. +"I don't seem to remember----" + +"You know you started out to find the truth," she said. + +He nodded. "So I did," he declared. "But so many things have +happened, especially since I found the Sleeping Beauty, and it's been +so nice, most of the time . . ." + +"Still, you shouldn't give up, you know," she said. "Maybe that's the +reason why you're not quite happy--because you haven't found the truth." + +He sighed heavily. She hadn't comforted him, after all. And somehow +he could not tell her that what ailed him was that he was heartsick to +see his parents again. He remembered the pretty sitting room at home, +and the way his father and mother used to look; and it seemed to him +that if he could go back they would perhaps be happy to see him. But +he could not speak of all this to the Masked Lady. + +He was greatly amazed when she said in a low tone: "It would be the +same thing over again if you didn't find the truth before you went +back." + +It was quite as if he had spoken his thoughts to her aloud! + +He drew away from her uneasily; but even as he did so she received +another dove which fluttered in at the window. And as she read the +message it had brought she said musingly--almost as if she were reading +the message, and not speaking to him at all--"_Everychild shall find +his parents again!_" + +He felt that he almost loved her when he heard those words--almost, yet +not quite. His heart beat more lightly. He wondered where all the +children had gone. He listened for their voices. + +It was then that an outer door opened hurriedly and the giant, Will +o'Dreams, entered the room. Perceiving Everychild, he stood an instant +with clinched hands and uplifted face; and then he cried out in a loud +voice: + +"Everychild!" + +And Everychild replied, with a little of that kindly condescension +which a married man feels toward a youth, "Well, my boy?" + +The giant cried out with elation, "Everychild, I have found her house!" + +"You have found her house?" echoed Everychild in perplexity. + +"My mother's house! I have seen it again! These many days, while you +have been happy here, I have made countless journeys far and near. I +made a final search. I could not give her up. And now I have found +her house--the house where I dwelt when I was a child!" + +This was good news, indeed. Everychild knew how the heart of the giant +had yearned for his mother. He smiled delightedly. "Ah, and so you +have seen her at last!" he cried. + +"I have not seen her--no," confessed the giant. "They would not allow +me to enter--they who surround her. I was but one, and they were many; +and they are cruel and relentless. But now that I have found the place +which shelters her I shall not give up until I stand face to face with +her again. Dear Everychild . . ." + +"Well?" said Everychild, seeing that his friend found it very hard to +continue. + +"I have come now to tell you we must part. I could not remain away, +remembering that I had not bade you farewell. But now I go to watch +for her until she emerges from her door, or until her followers +slumber . . . Oh, the obstacles shall be as nothing. Only rejoice +with me that I am to meet her again at last!" + +But Everychild's heart became heavy. "And we must part?" he asked in a +low voice. "Please do not say so! We, who have become like +brothers . . . is there no other way?" + +"There is no other way," replied the giant. "Do not doubt that I too +shall grieve because of our parting; but after searching for her in +vain all these years . . ." + +But Everychild, after a moment's reflection, cried out resolutely, +"There is another way. I shall go with you! And after you have found +her, who knows----" + +The giant was now happy indeed. "You will go with me?" he cried; "you +will leave all that makes you happy here and go with me into possible +perils? Then make haste--oh, make haste, that we may be on our way." + +And speaking thus the giant rushed eagerly from the room. + +For a moment Everychild stood lost in thought. It was the Masked Lady +who aroused him. "It will be but a short journey," she said; and it +seemed to Everychild that she spoke sadly. "Go with him, and be sure +you shall make a speedy return." + +He would have gone, then. Already he was putting great energy into his +feet, that he might overtake the giant. But the Masked Lady detained +him. + +"A word," she said. "Be patient with him, and comfort him, whatever +may befall. And Everychild--take this with you." + +As she spoke she produced quite magically the slim, shining sword she +had lent him once before. "Carry this," she said. "When it is drawn a +certain door which would otherwise remain shut will open wide. And be +of good cheer." + +He took the sword mutely, wonderingly. How should it cause a door to +open? he mused. + +When he had reached the outer door he turned to look again upon the +Masked Lady. She was smiling a little oddly--almost sadly, he thought. +She was holding forth her hands toward the open window. She was not +paying heed to him now. White doves were entering at the window and +alighting on her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE HIDDEN TEMPLE + +Everychild paused in the court long enough to explain to the Sleeping +Beauty and his friends that he was setting forth on an important +mission with Will o'Dreams; and then the two companions set forth from +the castle and began the descent of the road which led down into the +valley. + +Soon they came upon the road which they had formerly traveled--the Road +of Troubled Children. And before the day was spent they had covered a +great distance, since the giant, in his impetuous mood, set a very fast +gait. + +Toward sundown they turned a little away from the road and entered a +forest of a nature so confusing and forbidding that Everychild paused +in dismay. But the giant kept straight on, saying he was very sure of +the way, and after a moment's halt, Everychild followed him. + +In the very heart of the forest they paused, and Everychild's eyes +opened wide with wonder: for before them was an amazing sight. + +On a fair plateau a temple of white marble stood forth brightly in the +light of the setting sun. It was the most perfect temple ever seen. +It had a broad flight of steps, at the top of which there were pillars +which almost resembled glass, so great was their purity. In the midst +of the pillars there was a broad door set with precious gems. Here and +there were alabaster urns. + +No one was stirring about the temple. The door was closed. But at a +little distance, on a perfectly kept lawn, there were numerous square +blocks of marble, and on these certain extraordinary-appearing persons +were seated. + +We may as well know at once that the temple was the Temple of Truth; +and the persons who sat on the blocks of marble, or pedestals, were +known as Truth's devotees. The names of the devotees were graved on +the pedestals, and a few of those which Everychild could see were Mr. +Benevolent Institution, Dr. Orthodox Doctrine, Mrs. Justitia, Mr. +Inflexible Creed, Mr. Professional Politician and Mr. Policeman. And +of course there were many others. + +They were all dressed presentably enough, save that Mrs. Justitia's +robes were clearly of very cheap material, and the bandage about her +eyes had slipped down so that one eye could be seen peeping out +sharply; while Mr. Policeman had a really unsightly red nose, which +made his blue uniform seem rather absurd. + +The devotees of Truth sat staring straight before them. They seemed +sleepy, and they continually nodded their heads like mandarins. Mr. +Policeman was the only member of the group who did not nod continually. +He was fast asleep! He stirred occasionally when a fly circled about +his nose. On these occasions he waved his hand smartly before his face. + +The oddest-appearing member of the group was, perhaps, Mr. Professional +Politician. He wore a tiny mask with a smile like a cherub's painted +on it. He kept touching the mask, as though he feared it might fall +off; and when he did so it could be seen that he had an enormous, +coarse hand which did not match the false face at all. + +Just the same, the temple was very beautiful; and Everychild and the +giant stood gazing at it with reverence. + +The giant was the first to speak. "This is the place," he said. "And +beyond that door, inside the temple, is where my mother is hidden." + +Everychild nodded. Presently he thought to ask: "And all those--those +. . ." He really could not think how to refer to those persons on the +pedestals. + +But the giant understood. "We needn't pay any attention to them just +now," he said. "They'll neither see nor hear us as long as we just +stand here. It's only when we try to get into the temple that they +become really terrible." + +"And what do they do then?" asked Everychild. + +"Various dreadful things. Mr. Benevolent Institution would lock us up +where we'd see the sky only now and then and where we'd have to wear +uniforms, and all act alike and eat alike, and go to sleep and wake up +together." + +Everychild shuddered and moved closer to his companion. "Don't speak +so loud, please," he said. "And what about the others?" + +"Mr. Orthodox Doctrine is one of those fellows . . . well, he used to +burn you, you know; but now he freezes you." + +"And the others?" + +"It's not easy to explain. The lady--Mrs. Justitia--has a habit . . . +I hate to say it, but she's forever asking you how much money you've +got, and whether you've got any influential friends (if you could only +know what she means by that!)--questions of that sort, which a nice +person wouldn't ask you." + +"It's all very strange," whispered Everychild. "And the one with the +red nose?" he asked finally. + +"Mr. Policeman. He isn't really as bad as the rest of them. All he +does is hit you over the head with a club and turn you over to the +lady--to her with the bandage that's always slipping off." + +There was a silence, and then Everychild remarked: "Still, it's not +plain why they're all sitting around here where your--your mother . . ." + +"It's just a pose," said the giant. "What I can't understand is why my +mother doesn't denounce them all. They do no end of harm. And it was +they who drove me away from her long ago. They said I was a dangerous +character, and they all conspired to ruin me. They gave me a bad name, +so that everybody was willing to give me a kick in passing--all save a +few gentle hermits and shepherds and persons like that. And now--now I +truly fear they've got my mother locked up in her temple, so that she's +helpless. That's what we've got to do: we've got to get her out. Even +if we have to break down the doors. Though of course they'll all try +to destroy us if they know what we're about." + +For the moment Everychild forgot the sword he carried--which the Masked +Lady had given him--and forgot also what the Masked Lady had said to +him about a door which would not open save in the presence of that +sword. He said nervously, "Hadn't we better go away and come back some +other time?" + +But his companion replied resolutely, "I shall not go away. I shall +wait until they are all asleep--or perhaps until she opens the door and +appears." + +One more question entered Everychild's mind. "But if they all hate you +so," he said, "why do they all sit there now as if they did not care?" + +"I doubt if they recognize me," explained the giant. "It's been so +long since they saw me. They probably think we're mere idle travelers. +You know there are many such; and few of them really try to enter the +temple." + +And so they stood and waited, and the devotees continued to nod like +mandarins. It seemed indeed that they would never go to sleep. And it +came to pass at last that the giant could no longer restrain himself. +To be within reach of his lost mother, and not to be able to speak to +her--it was too much! + +He began to advance silently, leaving Everychild where he stood. He +proceeded, step by step, in the direction of the temple. And it began +to seem that he might reach the temple door without being seen. + +Indeed, he actually did so. He laid his hand on the door of the +temple. The door would not open! But instead, something quite +dreadful happened. + +In the back row of devotees sat one whom the giant had not yet seen. +It was Mr. Literal, seated on a pedestal marked with his name. + +This person started up with a scream of fury. He had recognized the +giant. + +"Up!" he cried to his fellow-devotees. "The evil son has returned. +Up, all of you, and defend the temple!" + +The others were all thoroughly aroused. They turned their eyes toward +the temple and perceived the giant standing at the very door! + +They sprang toward him with great fury. They quickly surrounded him. +It seemed that he must really perish before their wrath. And +then--then what happened? + +Everychild could not stand idle and see his friend perish. He +bethought him of the sword the Masked Lady had given him. He drew the +sword quickly and with a loud cry he dashed toward the temple steps. + +He gained the side of the giant; and then--what is this? _The devotees +all turned to cowering wretches_! They put forth their elbows to ward +off imaginary blows. They slunk back like base cowards. + +They had seen the sword in Everychild's hand, and they had recognized +it! + +Moreover, before the gleam of that sword the temple door swung open. + +The giant dashed into the temple to greet his mother. He became for an +instant invisible. The devotees were now slinking back to a safe +distance. Everychild, without ever lowering his sword, smote them all +with his glance of scorn. + +And then the giant reappeared. But oh, what a change had taken place +in him! He held his hands aloft in an agony of despair. He staggered +down the temple steps, followed by the wondering Everychild. + +"What is it?" asked Everychild in distress. "What ails you?" + +They were drawing away from the temple now, and the devotees were +thronging back to the open door. They surrounded it, closing it with +frenzied hands. + +The giant drew apart, giving no explanation to Everychild just at +first. But standing alone and heart-broken he lifted his hands high. + +"_She is gone!_" he cried in a hoarse, agonized whisper. + +The devotees lifted their voices in a triumphant chorus-- + +"She is within!" + +But the giant, his hands hanging limp now, and his eyes staring into +vacancy, repeated in the same hoarse voice: + +"She is gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +HOW EVIL DAYS CAME UPON THE CASTLE + +As they left the temple behind them, on their return journey, +Everychild could not help thinking that it was a very good thing to +have found that the giant's mother was not in the temple. To his way +of looking at it, this argued that she had escaped from the terrible +creatures who surrounded the temple. And if so, why should they not +hope to find her elsewhere? + +But when at length he suggested this to his companion, the giant only +replied, scarcely above a whisper, "I fear she has been slain." + +And so Everychild walked by the giant's side, glancing at him anxiously +from time to time, and seeing despair written so plainly on his +countenance that he did not venture to utter another word. + +When they approached the great entrance to the castle there was hurried +running to and fro on the ramparts, about the doors and windows, and in +the halls. Eager eyes looked down from the watch-tower. But soon all +eagerness changed to alarm. They could all see that the giant had been +smitten dreadfully: that the proud yet kindly head had been brought low. + +Silence reigned in the great reception hall when the giant entered. +His friends all waited for him to speak, to relate the tale of his +adventure. Many eyes rested upon him curiously, yet pityingly. And +when Everychild, following the giant into the hall, placed a warning +finger on his lip, the wonder grew and deepened to consternation. + +For an instant the giant stood among them, his trembling hands clasping +his head. He saw none of his friends. Then he suddenly tottered. He +would have fallen had not certain of the king's courtiers sprang to his +aid. They helped him to a chair; and there he sat with lowered eyes +like one who would never lift his head again. + +The physician was sent for in haste. He came and looked down upon the +giant. He questioned him, but received no reply. + +Then he looked upon those who surrounded him and touched his own +forehead significantly. "The malady is here," he said. "This is no +case for herbs and cordials." + +They put the giant to bed and sent for the greatest physicians in the +kingdom, including those who were skilled in ministering to the +afflictions of the mind. There were muttered conferences and all the +pomp which even the most cunning doctors knew how to exercise. Later +there were bickerings and words of scorn and hatred among the healers. +But it seemed they could not agree upon a remedy. One suggested this, +the other urged that; but the giant remained indifferent to it +all--unconscious of it all. And his condition was not bettered in the +least. On the contrary, he sank deeper and deeper into the despondent +mood which held him. + +The others discussed his strange affliction. It seemed that many of +them had known of the giant's great longing to find his mother again. +For days and days he had been quitting the castle early in the morning +and going upon far and dangerous journeys in the hope of finding her. +He had seemed quite confident of finding her. No wonder that he should +be smitten hard, now that he had been obliged to abandon his search. + +At last a new, alarming report spread through the castle: the giant was +no longer remaining silent, but was addressing all who came within +hearing of him. But he was speaking only evil and false words. He was +depicting the whole world as a place of shame and cruelties. He was +painting everything black. + +Everychild listened to him speaking in this strain on one occasion, and +the effect upon him was unbelievable. Everything seemed different to +him. The golden furniture in the finest room in the castle no longer +seemed to be of gold. It was merely painted yellow, he thought. Even +the Sleeping Beauty seemed changed in his eyes. Her face did not seem +so perfect, after all! There were moments when she seemed even +commonplace, not to say dreadfully old-fashioned. He fought against +this state of mind, but all in vain. + +Seeing how things were going, the physicians urged that the giant's +friends be prevented from seeing him any more. They were even for +removing him to the castle dungeons and confining him. But so great +was the outcry against this extreme measure that if was not carried out. + +Nevertheless, as one day after another passed, it was plain that +something must be done. The giant's voice could be heard far and near, +uttering evil words and pretending that things were quite unlike what +they really were. And all this had an effect upon all his former +companions. + +Cinderella was heard to say with a fearful sigh: "I am sure the prince +of the crystal slipper will never find me. It is absurd to suppose so!" + +Hansel was heard to say, "Oh, yes, I get enough to eat now: but who +knows how soon I shall be required to go without eating?" + +Grettel said, "It's all very well, but no one can tell me we'll come to +any good in this place surrounded by a forest in which there may be all +kinds of monsters!" + +Tom Hubbard maintained that his little black dog had never had so many +fleas since the day he was born, and that it was all the fault of the +old castle. + +Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue were seen to weep together and to +confide in each other the fear that they would some day have to return +to the folds to find that the wolves had become much larger and more +ferocious than they had even been before. + +Even the gentle Prince Arthur became moody and remarked to Everychild +on one occasion, "There's always a good deal of visiting among kings, +and we may expect some one to see me here sooner or later and carry +word to King John. And then there will be no further liberty for me." + +For the time being everybody forgot all about the Masked Lady, who sat +alone much of the time, and regarded this person or that with steadfast +eyes through her mask. + +To speak quite plainly, the Masked Lady had been putting off to the +last possible moment a step from which she could not help but shrink. + +The time had come for Everychild to take that dread journey to the +Mountain of Reality. She had given him as many days of grace as she +could possibly permit. And at last she said solemnly: + +"It shall be to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE MOUNTAIN OF REALITY + +The next day the giant, standing out on the rampart where every one +could see and hear him, was shouting--"The world is full of evil! The +world is full of evil!" And his friends thought sadly of that day, now +only a little while ago, when it had been his wont to say that the +world was full of good--that, indeed, everything was good if you looked +at it in the right way. But suddenly he stopped shouting and lifted +his head. + +It was the first time he had been seen to lift his head in a number of +days, and it seemed very good to see him do this. He seemed to be +listening intently, and also with a certain faint, dawning hope. + +At the very same time Everychild lifted his head also and listened, but +as he did so he clasped his hands with dread. + +And also Prince Arthur and Cinderella and Hansel and Grettel and the +other children lifted their heads and listened. + +They had all heard some one playing on a pipe; and the sound, though +distant, was very mysterious. It drifted up from the forest road. The +notes continued to be heard, one by one, in the same strange, +fascinating way. + +It was the giant who first began to move in the direction of the sound +of the pipe. He did this at first as though reluctantly; but as he +continued on his way he began to walk more alertly, and presently he +seemed very eager. + +And then Everychild found it impossible to withstand that sound and he +too moved away in the direction from which the notes of the pipe came. +And the Sleeping Beauty, with a dreamy smile on her lips, walked with +him; and Cinderella followed a few steps behind. And then the others, +one by one, fell into line: Hansel and Grettel, the sons and daughters +of the Old Woman who lived in the shoe, Prince Arthur, Little Bo-Peep, +Little Boy Blue, and last of all, Tom Hubbard and the little black dog. + +They all marched down the mountain road, away from the castle; and +presently they began to catch glimpses of a figure in the distance, +moving on before them elusively, and leaving behind a trail of +enchanting notes. + +They turned into the Road of Troubled Children, and far away they +marched. Far away they marched, but the figure on ahead still eluded +them--save that they heard the notes of the pipe clearer and more sweet +and strange. + +But at last the figure that led the way could be seen more clearly, and +Everychild murmured to himself; "It is the Pied Piper!" And when this +thought had occurred to him he could scarcely repress his excitement. + +The figure in the road before them had now halted, though the dulcet +notes went on and on. It was a truly fascinating person, to say the +least--with a quaint costume, including a funny cap. But presently +Everychild, coming closer to the piper, drew in his breath shortly. + +The player on the pipes was the Masked Lady! She might have been +thought to be dreaming as she lifted and lowered her beautiful fingers +where the openings in the pipe were and went on playing. Occasionally +she glanced back to make sure that the children were all there. + +And then something very strange occurred. The ranks of children were +augmented by other children. Along the road they came dreamily and +took their places in the procession. They were Little Red Riding-Hood +and the Babes in the Wood (the latter brushing withered leaves from +their garments) and other children whose stories are known to be sad +ones. And there was Aladdin again!--carrying his lamp, and smiling a +little mischievously. + +Then the Masked Lady, in the guise of the Pied Piper, resumed her +march, facing straight ahead, and moving with grace and majesty. And +the entire procession began to move. + +The children scarcely gave a thought to where they were going. Nor did +they give a thought to going back. They were moved by a power which +they did not understand to keep step with the music of the pipe. + +On and on they marched--on and on. They passed through silent forests +and across beautiful plains, up gentle hills and through sheltered +fells. And the melody of the piper became so strongly accented that +they could not help keeping step, even if they had wished not to do so. + +At last, however, they came to where there was a great dark mountain +ahead; and Everychild thought to himself, "Now we shall have to turn +back, since it would be too much for us to ascend that high mountain." + +But the Masked Lady continued to march straight toward that dark +mountain--which was, as she well knew, the fearful Mountain of Reality. + +The other children all beheld the mountain and they looked at one +another with questioning eyes, as if each were asking the other, "Do +you not consider it a terrible mountain?" Still, they never ceased to +keep step with the music. + +They could see the mountain clearly now. It was cold and bleak and +rose into the mists of the sky. There were great chasms in its sides, +and precipitous heights and walls which it would have seemed impossible +to scale. It seemed of a frightful hardness, too. + +Most terrible of all, wild hunters were to be seen all the way up to +the summit, and terrible beasts; and also one could catch a glimpse of +solitary individuals who were climbing to the highest visible points, +and some of these were falling back and hurting themselves terribly. + +"We cannot advance another step," thought Everychild; for now they were +indeed at the very base of the mountain. + +And then a miracle occurred, just when it seemed that the Masked Lady +would be compelled to turn back. + +The mountain opened! There was a cavity as large as an immense +archway. Through this the Masked Lady advanced; and then the entire +band of children marched straight into the heart of the mountain. + +Everychild, looking back, perceived that the mountain had closed again +after the last child had entered, so that they were now all prisoners! + +That was indeed a dreadful moment; for the heart of the Mountain of +Reality was a great gloomy cavern in which everything seemed quite +terrible. Nor would there have seemed any way of escaping from the +place. The light was but dim, so that objects were only obscurely +revealed. But it could be seen that the top of the cavern was very +high, while the walls were steep and formidable. + +A weird sound arose. The high walls echoed it, the dark ceiling flung +it back. It went trembling into far places and returned, shattered yet +with its weird quality unabated. + +It was the children weeping! + +It seemed their hearts would break, because of the dreary place into +which they had been brought. And during this time the Masked Lady only +stood and looked upon the children silently. + +Everychild could scarcely believe his own eyes, and he began a more +careful examination of the cavern. + +He came upon water in half-hidden pools. "But," he reflected, "we +could not drink of this water if we were thirsty. It is quite black." + +He examined the paths which led from one place to another. "We could +not walk in these paths," he mused, "because they are too rough." + +He examined the natural stairways which led to the upper chambers of +the cavern. "But we could not climb those stairways," he decided, +"since they are too steep." + +He came upon beds which had been spread for himself and his companions. +"We could not sleep in these," was his conclusion, "because they are +too hard." + +And as he continued his examination he became aware that he was +standing close to Will o'Dreams; and something in his friend's manner +caused him to pause and observe him more closely. + +Because of the fulness of his heart he put forth a hand and touched his +friend's arm. The arm trembled. And then the sad truth became known. +The scenes he had been called upon to witness here in the cavern had +been too much for Will o'Dreams. He had been stricken with blindness! + +It did not seem strange to Everychild that he should wish to run +immediately and tell the Masked Lady of what had befallen the giant. +Surely he must have felt a certain confidence in her, after all! + +But when she had been informed of the giant's plight she only said, +"Let us be patient." + +And then she began to speak to all the children, calling their +attention to this matter or that. "Do not be afraid to drink of the +water," she said. "It seems black. That is only because it is deep." + +And drinking of the water, they found it to be sweet and refreshing. + +"Do not hold back from wandering in the paths," she added. "Your feet +will take them easily." + +And wandering in the paths they found that they were not so rough as +they had imagined them. + +"Do not falter if you wish to climb the stairways," she continued. +"Only try them." + +And they tried them, and found that their limbs responded joyously to +the effort they were putting forth. + +"Do not shrink from sleeping in the beds which have been provided," she +said at last. "They may surprise you." + +And lying down in the beds which had seemed so uninviting, the children +were wooed to slumber. They were really comfortable beds, after all! + +Strangest of all was the fact that Will o'Dreams went about with the +other children, guided by the sound of their voices, and by an +occasional touch of Everychild's hand; and one after another he tested +the pool and the paths and the stairs and the beds. + +"Ah, how good it is to have them!" he said at last with a great sigh; +and soon after he had sunk into deep and refreshing slumber. + +Nor were the others long in following his example. They had traveled +far; and it seemed good to rest now, especially as they believed they +might look forward to happy and wonderful experiences on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MASKED LADY'S SECRET + +Toward morning Everychild had a dream. In his dream his mother came +and stood near him, and looked at him wonderingly and sadly. And +then--in the dream--his father could be seen, standing apart and slowly +shaking his head. + +It seemed that there was a cry of joy in his throat, and that he ran to +embrace his mother. He felt that he should weep for joy when he flung +his arms about her neck and felt her face touching his. + +But then he awoke, and his parents were not there: but only the great +chamber in the heart of the mountain, and all the other children rising +from their beds, eager to begin a new day. + +He could not rid his mind of the vivid dream, nor his heart of the +strange softness it had brought. And as soon as he could do so he +sought the Masked Lady, his intention being to inquire of her what his +dream had meant. + +She stood waiting for him, as it seemed, and he approached her with +increasing eagerness. And now he perceived that she was no longer +wearing the dress of a piper, but had on the soft white dress in which +he had first beheld her, and wore a jewel in her hair. + +He had the strange thought that she might be really beautiful if only +she would remove the mask which gave her face that distant expression +and almost hid her eyes. And he remembered, all of a sudden, how he +had often been helped by her, and how she had always been near, as if +she wished to help him even more, and how she had comforted him that +night when he had seen a star fall by assuring him that he was _a +little bit of God_. + +He began speaking to her with a new feeling of constraint. "I dreamed +of seeing my mother and father last night," he said. + +She smiled faintly. "I know," she replied. "All the other children +had the same dream. That is what all children dream of here in this +chamber." + +He opened his eyes very wide. How could she know what all the other +children had dreamed, since it did not appear that they had told her of +their dreams? But he continued: "They seemed a little sad," he said. +"My mother's eyes were troubled, and my father shook his head." + +"Yes, Everychild?" + +"And I wondered if I might not see them again, really. It would be +good to see them again; and you know I have come so far . . ." + +The Masked Lady replied: "Nothing delights me so much as to have +children and their parents find each other. That is my highest +dream--to bring together the parents and children who have lost each +other." + +"And shall I find them?" + +"I think you are on the way even now to find them--perhaps sooner than +you dare to hope." + +"If I could find them now," continued Everychild, "I think I could +willingly give up my search for--for the truth. It seemed a wonderful +thing to seek for when I began, but I am not anxious to do so any more." + +There was a new note in her voice as she replied, "Truth is very close +to those who still seek, but who have ceased to be anxious." + +He did not know why the words should have thrilled him so. If he could +find the truth, after all, and still have his parents again! He +permitted his eyes to rest on the Masked Lady's rather forbidding face. +And then he began impulsively--"Dear lady! . . ." + +"Yes, Everychild?" she returned gently. + +He sought eagerly for the right words. "I did not know it myself for a +long time," he said, "But I think I know now . . ." + +"I am waiting, Everychild!" + +His voice almost failed him. "There was such a long time that I +thought I feared you a little," he continued, "--when it seemed better +to stand quite apart from you and look at you from a distance. But +you've been so good a friend that now at last . . ." + +"At last, Everychild?" + +He timidly sought her hand; and having found it he stood with downcast +eyes. "At last I know I--I love you!" + +Still standing with downcast eyes he could not know how radiantly she +appeared before him. He could not see how the mask fell from her face +at last. The Masked Lady no more, but Truth herself in all her glory! + +She cried out triumphantly, "Lift up your eyes, Everychild, and look at +me!" + +He lifted his eyes slowly, gaining courage little by little. And when +he looked upon her an expression of amazement and swiftly dawning +delight was in his eyes. + +"You are--oh, it is you!" he cried, fearing even yet to name her. + +"It is I," she said. + +And he was not fearful of her now. Truth at last--and yet she was one +who had been near him a long time and had often aided him. + +"But you are beautiful!" he cried at last in wonder and delight. + +"I am always beautiful to those who love me," she said. + +"But oh, dear lady," he cried, "could you not have helped me to know +you in the beginning?" + +"Ah," she replied, "each soul must find me for itself." + +Then she put her arm about him and comforted him for long days and +nights of wandering. + +They were interrupted soon by the other children who came forward +eagerly. They too had come to tell their dream; and Everychild watched +joyously while Truth--to him the Masked Lady no more--reassured them by +saying that even now they were on their way to find their parents. And +the children gathered together in groups and agreed that they all +wished very much to see their parents again. + +And then Everychild listened attentively while Truth declared to the +assembled band: "If you would really find your parents again, and be +happy with them, you must promise one thing only: that you will love +them better than you love yourselves." + +And all the children, having forgotten many of the hardships they had +undergone at home, replied almost in one voice-- + +"We promise!" + +Then after they had remained silent a little while, wondering how they +were to find their parents, from whom they had wandered so far, they +began to inquire how so difficult a thing could be brought about; and +they were informed that it was true that one great obstacle still lay +in the way of their return to their parents, but that perhaps it would +be possible to remove that obstacle. + +They drew apart, whispering among themselves and looking beamingly into +one another's faces. + +They were startled suddenly by a great voice, crying out in anguish-- + +"Lady--dear lady!" + +It was the giant, who had remained apart a little because of his +blindness. He was now approaching Truth, his hands outstretched. + +"I am here," she said. And he came and knelt by her side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +WILL O'DREAMS MAKES A DISCOVERY + +For a moment the giant remained silent, his heart so torn by doubt and +fear that he could not speak. But at length he said: "I have heard how +you would restore the children to their parents . . ." + +"I hope to do so," replied Truth. + +He cried out in sorrow, "Yet none may restore me to my mother, whom I +have lost." + +"Be not so sure of that!" she said. + +Whereupon hope was kindled in his heart. He pondered, feeling that he +was in the presence of one who was very wise and kind. And then he +said: + +"And I have heard Everychild say that you are beautiful." + +She did not reply to this. She waited for him to continue. + +"You will forgive me for speaking what is in my heart," he said at +length, "But my own mother, from whom I was driven by cruel, stupid +persons long ago, was very beautiful. And I have always dreamed that +some day I should encounter a beautiful lady and that she should prove +to be the mother I lost." + +She replied to him in a low voice: "And by what sign or token should +you recognize her, if you were to encounter her again after all these +years?" + +"Alas, what hope is there for me, now that I am blind? While I could +yet see I hoped to know her by her calm glance, by the serenity that +never was troubled by any evil chance . . . I cannot say; but I never +would believe that I should not be helped to recognize her." + +She meditated a little. And presently she said, as she leaned closer +to him, "And did you never give her anything--a token, perhaps--that +she might have treasured and kept, by which you might recognize her?" + +"_I_ give _her_ anything?" he exclaimed incredulously. "It was she who +gave, not I. What was there I could have given her? And yet . . . I +remember once when I was a child I brought her a pretty trifle, and her +eyes grew bright and she drew me to her and laid her cheek against my +hair. And there were other things--but they were only trifles, after +all." + +"Trifles?" she echoed passionately, "trifles?" + +He began, "There was----" And then he broke off. "I am ashamed to +say," he said. "It was nothing." + +She reflected earnestly. And at length she said, with new eagerness in +her voice, "But if you ever find your mother, and fail to know her, and +she shall tell you what those trifles were--you shall know that it is +she. Is it not so?" + +"It is true," he said. + +A rapturous smile began to illumine her face. "Trifles, dear child!" +she cried. "Should you call them trifles?--One was the first song ever +sung; and one was the first tale ever told----" + +She paused, because he had clasped his hands together in ecstacy and +seemed almost to cease to breathe. + +"And one," she continued, "was the first picture; and one----" Her +voice became all but inaudible, "--one was the first prayer." + +His voice arose in a great shout of triumph. "You are she!" he cried +"You are indeed she!" + +And he reached forth and clasped her in his arms. At last they were +united again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +HOW ALADDIN MADE A WISH + +And now the time had come for Truth to determine whether, indeed, the +children might be reunited with their parents--for there yet remained +the need of exacting a pledge from the parents themselves. + +But the parents were far away and in many places, and it must needs be +a difficult task to consult them all to learn if they were ready to +enter upon a just and binding covenant. + +Everychild drew near, after Truth and the giant had been reunited, in +the hope of being able to help in the next great step which lay before +them. However, there was something else to be attended to first: There +was the pleasant duty of congratulating the giant, not only upon being +reunited with his mother, but also upon having regained his sight. For +it was now apparent that a great happiness, following after a period of +dark distress, had enabled Will o'Dreams to see again perfectly! + +After this unexpected consummation had been gratefully discussed, there +was much to say about the great reunion which they all had at heart. + +Everychild was of the opinion that it might prove all but impossible to +retrace their steps over the way they had come. And the other +children, one after another, agreed that it was too much to hope that +they might find their way back over the devious paths by which they had +come. + +It was then that they were all aware that one of their number had +remained apart and was now regarding them almost piteously. + +It was Aladdin!--Aladdin, holding his accursed lamp to his bosom, and +gazing at them with beseeching eyes. + +Everychild called to him to join them; and as Aladdin came up he said, +"And so, Aladdin, you still have your lamp. And that means, of course, +that you have not yet wished for _the best thing of all_." + +"Alas, no," replied Aladdin. + +Everychild continued: "We are anxious to find our parents again, but we +were thinking how difficult this would be, because they are in many +places, and far away." + +"Nothing could be simpler," declared Aladdin; and he held forth his +lamp and regarded it with a grim smile. + +Everychild leaned forward with great eagerness. "Tell me what you +would do," he said. + +"I would make a wish," said Aladdin, "that here and now, all the +troubled children and their parents might be forever united." + +The children were all nearly spellbound. Could such a strange wish be +made successfully? They marveled, yet they were scarcely incredulous. +They came in an awed silence and formed an audience before Aladdin, +even the little black dog coming and sitting up before a group of +children where he could see everything that took place. + +There was a solemn silence at last. Everychild's eyes were filled with +a kind of fearful rapture. But Aladdin's confidence was unshaken. He +smiled a little mockingly, as if he were greatly enjoying the solemn +situation. + +The great test began. Aladdin rubbed his lamp before the eyes of all, +so that they could see precisely what took place. + +There was one brief interruption when Hansel's voice could be heard in +an impatient whisper bidding Grettel refrain from moving her head so +that he could not see. But silence was immediately restored. + +Again Aladdin rubbed his lamp, and smiled upon his audience almost +tauntingly. + +A third time he rubbed his lamp, this time with a stern, expectant +expression in his eyes. + +There was a rumbling sound; it seemed to grow almost dark. And then a +genie appeared. The genie made a low salaam and awaited instructions. + +Said Aladdin, "I wish that here and now all the troubled children and +their parents may be forever united. Conduct us to the Hall of +Parents, and assemble the mothers and fathers!" + +The genie disappeared. + +An instant later--wonder of wonders! There were echoing noises at one +end of the great chamber. What had seemed to be a wall of stone proved +to consist of scores of great gates, standing tier upon tier. And the +gates began to open and fold back. One after another they opened and +folded back, revealing an immense, brilliantly-lighted space of +incomparable grandeur. + +It was the Hall of Parents! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE HALL OF PARENTS + +The children arose and stood in their places breathlessly when that +scene was revealed to them. Never had they seen such bright lights, so +high a ceiling, so many splendid decorations. + +There was not a single parent in sight, it is true; but this did not +disturb their joy, since it was plain that any number of parents might +be near by, waiting for a wand to be waved, or a wish to be made. + +On the far side of the Hall there was a great semicircle of painted +curtains, like those in a theater, with only narrow spaces between +them. On these curtains were painted scenes and figures of men and +women. Above each curtain a pennon was flying. + +From some invisible place strains of music floated, and the music was +of the kind which does not make the heart either heavy or light, but +simply tender. + +The children began to advance into the Hall of Parents, gazing with +wondering eyes at the painted curtains, which held for them a strange +fascination. As they drew nearer they perceived that in the middle of +the semi-circle of curtains there was an opening, with soft draperies +before it, as if it were here that the parents would presently enter. + +Then the pictures on the curtains began to become clear, and there were +cries of joy and amazement from the children. One picture showed the +mother and father of Everychild. The mother sat at a table, her face +buried on her arms. The father stood helplessly beside her, his hand +on her shoulder. + +Another picture showed the wicked King John of England sitting gloomily +on his throne. + +Another showed the mother and sisters of Cinderella seated before a +fireplace, silent and forlorn. Near them, and gazing at them +challengingly, was the figure of a gallant young man with a crystal +slipper of great delicacy in his hand. + +Another showed the parents of Hansel and Grettel, the father clasping a +loaf of bread to him and gazing abstractedly before him. + +Another showed Old Mother Hubbard standing before a cupboard and +looking into it intently. + +Another showed the unique residence of the Old Woman who lived in a +shoe, with the Old Woman herself standing dejectedly near the gaping +opening in the toe. + +Others showed certain not easily recognizable ladies and gentlemen: +perhaps the parents of Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue and others. + +And high above all these homely pictures, which were exaggerated just +enough to be really fascinating--like the pictures at the side-show of +the circus--fluttered the soft pennons. + +The curtains themselves wavered deliciously, so that you could guess +something was going on behind them. The music which made your heart +tender never ceased to flow from its invisible place. + +Closer and closer the children pressed, still scarcely daring to +breathe, and feeling certain that their parents would not be much +longer withheld from them. They were becoming more and more eager. +Even the little black dog manifested the greatest excitement. + +And at last Truth stepped forward purposefully and took her place just +in advance of the band of children. She had never seemed more +impressive. Her white dress gleamed in the bright light, and the gem +in her hair was of every color one could imagine. + +She began to speak. + +"I very seldom make a speech," she said. "Scarcely once in a hundred +years do I make a speech in public. But if you will bear with words +for once, instead of deeds--upon my assurance that deeds shall +immediately follow--I have this to say to you: + +"It is a very great thing when children find their parents again after +losing them; but the last good of all, and perhaps the greatest, is +when parents find their children whom they have lost. + +"You who have assembled here have found your parents at last. This I +know, not because you have come here into their presence--for you must +know they are behind yonder painted curtains, which we shall presently +lift--but because you have learned to know the need of them, and +because you have come in very truth to love them. + +"We shall see now if your parents have found you." + +The children caught at that saying, which seemed wholly obscure to +them, and wondered what meaning could lie behind it. But in the +meantime Truth had turned toward the curtains. She gazed at them one +after another in an intense manner, and finally she stepped close to +the one whereon the likeness of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe was +painted. + +In a commanding voice she cried out, "Old Woman who lived in a shoe, +appear!" + +The curtain moved; it was thrust forward a little at one side, and the +Old Woman who lived in a shoe stepped out! + +To her Truth spoke calmly yet with a certain majesty. "I have come," +said she, "to restore your children to you, to be yours forever--but on +one condition." + +The Old Woman lifted her sad eyes and gazed in amazement at Truth. "To +think," she blurted out, "that they should have run up against the like +of you! How may I have them again to keep? Speak--there's a good +soul!" + +The reply came in a ringing tone: "You must promise to love your +children better than you love yourself." + +"I do--oh, I do!" cried the Old Woman, the tears starting to her eyes. + +What happened then? At a sign from Truth the children went spinning +toward the Old Woman. She drew the curtain out a little so that they +could slip into the hidden space behind it. One after another they +eagerly disappeared, and then she followed them. + +When they had all disappeared, Truth moved along to the next curtain, +on which a portrait of Old Mother Hubbard was painted. She called out +commandingly, "Old Mother Hubbard, appear!" + +As in the former case, the curtain was pushed out at one side, and you +could tell that some one was coming. Old Mother Hubbard appeared! + +To her Truth said: "Your greatest unkindness to your son was your +unkindness to his dog. If you would have your son again, you must +promise to love him better than you love yourself--and I advise you +first of all to think kindly of the dog that was his friend." + +She had scarcely finished speaking when Old Mother Hubbard cried out in +broken tones: + +"Give me his dog!" + +The little black dog bounded joyously toward her, followed by her son +Tom. They were shown into the place behind the curtain. Old Mother +Hubbard following them with the greatest haste. + +They could be seen no more. + +But Truth was already speaking again in clear tones: "Father and mother +of Hansel and Grettel, appear!" + +And the father and mother of Hansel and Grettel appeared from behind +their curtain, and stood hand in hand, with downcast eyes. + +Said Truth to them: "The father and mother who would not share their +last loaf of bread with their children--nay, who would not deny +themselves that their children need not go supperless to bed--deserve +not the love of children. They love themselves overmuch. But if at +last in your hearts----" + +The mother of Hansel and Grettel could not wait for the end of the +sentence. She turned stormily to her husband. "It was you who +persuaded me to do it--to lose the poor little things," said she. + +The father retorted promptly, "It was that you, good wife, might not +starve that I consented to lose the children in the wood!" + +But Truth interposed: "It is not a time now to fix the blame, but to +make amends. Come, mother and father of Hansel and Grettel: can you +promise that hereafter you will love your children better than you love +yourselves?" + +It was the father who replied, speaking in earnest tones: "Gladly shall +we deny ourselves hereafter, if need be, that our children may have +bread; and in all other ways we shall strive to show them that we love +them better than we love ourselves." To which the wife nodded once for +each word. + +Whereupon Hansel and Grettel ran swiftly to their parents, who made a +way for them to pass behind the curtain, and they all disappeared. + +And now Truth was crying out, "Mother of Cinderella, appear!" + +Not only Cinderella's mother, but her sisters too (their curiosity +aroused to the topmost pitch) appeared before their curtain. + +Said Truth, addressing the mother: "She whom the crystal slipper +fits--and well do you know her name--will return to you, forgiving and +forgetting all, if you will promise to love her better than you love +yourself." + +"Ah," replied Cinderella's mother, "I've done that this long while, I +think--but how was I to let her know? Let her come to me this instant +and she shall never have cause to complain again!" + +Then Cinderella approached her mother and received a kiss; and then her +mother led her solicitously into the space behind the curtain, the two +sisters following with awe-stricken faces. + +For the first time now Truth faltered as if she had no heart for the +next task she had to perform. She was standing before the curtain on +which the likeness of the cruel King John was painted. And at last she +cried out: + +"John, King of England, appear!" + +There was a pause--and then an echo of sound. The curtain trembled; it +was pressed forward at one side. Slowly and with awful majesty King +John appeared. His crown was on his head, his kingly robe of ermine +fell from his shoulders, there was a kingly staff in his hand. His +eyes were like a storm-cloud, his brow like thunder. + +It was now that Truth spoke more impressively than she had done before, +saying,-- + +"And you--it is true that you were not Prince Arthur's father, but only +his guardian. And yet it may be you would atone for your crimes +against the poor fatherless prince. Come, Sire--this boy who knew no +father save you: if I give him back into your keeping can you promise +to love him better than you love yourself?" + +The king frowned more darkly. "Better than I love myself!" he said +incredulously. "Can a king love any one better than he loves himself?" + +Truth continued: "I cannot read the heart of kings. It is for you, +Sire, to speak. I know not what a king's highest vision may be; but I +know no man should have power over another, save it be the power of +self-sacrificing love. I await your answer--and the prince waits." + +But the king repeated, musingly and darkly--"Can a king love any one +better than he loves himself?" + +There was a moment of suspense; and then Truth would have moved on; but +at the last instant the king cried out, "Stay a moment--I command you!" +Twice he tried to speak; and then he said: "That little prince, so +helpless and beautiful! You need not think that I have not repented me +of my sins toward him. In the dark nights the winds have brought me +back the echo of his sighs; and by day I have seen in every ray of +sunlight the gleam of his hair, and in the blue sky the beaming eyes of +him. Perhaps if I might try again, though he stood in my way . . . if +you would send him hither . . ." + +But he had not promised, and though Prince Arthur waited, ready to go +to him, Truth did not give the signal. + +The king was frowning mightily and saying to himself, "Can a king love +any one better than he loves himself? Nay, that could not be!" + +In a nervous, slinking manner, he drew back behind his curtain. + +Prince Arthur drew his cloak about him more closely, as if he were +cold. Then with an air almost spectral, yet very sad, he drew further +and further away, always keeping his eyes upon the picture of the king. + +He came to the folded hangings which opened no one knew whither. He +parted them and passed out. While his hand still clung to the hangings +there came a flash of lightning which revealed the chaos of nothingness +without. Thunder rumbled. Then the hangings fell back into place and +the prince was seen no more. + +So it went on until all the children had been restored to their +parents--all save Everychild. And now Truth paused before the curtain +whereon the likeness of Everychild's parents was painted. + +"Parents of Everychild, appear!" she cried. + +They came, subdued, saddened, hand in hand. And Truth addressed them. + +"Parents of Everychild," she said, "I need not tell you now why +Everychild is lost to those who should be nearest to him. You have +learned that coldness and neglect toward those who have a right to look +to you for love and good will is the one sin for which punishment is +most inevitable. But so long as the world stands Everychild shall not +forget his father and mother; and at last he comes to take you into his +heart to cherish you for ever and ever. Will you--but ah, I need not +ask! I know that at last the parents of Everychild, tried by suffering +and time, love him better--oh, far better--than they love themselves." + +To which the parents of Everychild cried out, "We do--we do, indeed!" + +Then Everychild gave his hand to the Sleeping Beauty, who seemed a bit +overawed by all that was transpiring, and led her toward his parents. +They stood with outstretched hands. And immediately they passed with +the utmost happiness behind their curtain. + +They had all disappeared now--yet no, Aladdin and Will o'Dreams +remained. + +Aladdin had been sitting apart, watching everything that took place. +He had kept quite out of the way. Now he arose leisurely and moved +toward those hangings through which Prince Arthur had disappeared. He +meant to join Prince Arthur! + +But just before he disappeared he turned about. A blissful smile was +on his lips. He held his hands high. + +_His lamp was gone_! + +He passed from sight. He could be heard singing dreamily, +"Tla-la-la . . . tla-la-la . . ." His voice died away. + +Now Truth remained all alone save that her son, Will o'Dreams, remained +gazing at her happily. + +But suddenly she perceived an intruder near her. For the last time, +Mr. Literal was there beside her. He was smiling smugly and tetering +back and forth on his feet. "You seem very well satisfied with +yourself," he said with a sneer. + +She only turned toward him serenely. + +"Yet all the same," continued Mr. Literal, "the story is full of +meaningless things and inconsistencies." + +"Do you think so?" she returned. + +"Of course. Take those unhappy pictures of childhood, for example. +You don't mean to argue really that Everychild is treated unkindly?" + +She replied thoughtfully, "I fear that Everychild is sometimes treated +unkindly." + +He seemed to weigh this point and to remain unconvinced. He moved more +confidently to the next point. "At least," he said, "you'll scarcely +contend that Everychild marries the Sleeping Beauty?" + +She replied with assurance: "Everychild marries a Sleeping Beauty. To +him she is beautiful, and she is asleep until he comes." + +Mr. Literal lost patience. "Very well," he said, "but you know it's +true that Imagination--I believe he calls himself Will o'Dreams--is not +a giant as he's been represented here." + +She replied calmly, "The greatest giant of all: the forerunner of every +dream, of every deed!" + +But Mr. Literal had reserved his most crushing argument for the last. +"Well," said he, "it is certainly not true that Everychild has a little +dog for a companion!" + +And now for an instant Truth seemed really confused. But after +faltering a moment she overcame her confusion. She smiled and beamed +with real good will. "Perhaps not," said she, "but ah, Everychild +_should_ have!" + +But Mr. Literal was not to be conciliated. "And as for your not having +a mask on any more, as Everychild would have it, that's nonsense. It's +there, just the same as ever." + +"To you--yes, I know," she replied. + +"To every one!" he exclaimed irritably. "I'll leave it to the world." + +"Let us see," she said; and she turned to her son, Will o'Dreams, with +a significant smile. + +It seemed that he understood; for he faced the painted curtains with +sudden purposefulness. He held his arms aloft--and all the curtains +began to ascend. The result was almost bewildering. + +In one place was the great shoe, just as we have seen it before, and +all about it were the Old Woman's sons and daughters, seemingly the +happiest children in the world. Their mother was smiling contentedly. + +In another place there was the interior of Old Mother Hubbard's +cottage, with the little black dog just receiving a fine morsel, and +with Tom and his mother looking on with great joy. + +In another there was a mean cottage interior--the home of Hansel and +Grettel--with the parents holding their son and daughter close to them. + +In another was the dreadful King John, pondering moodily on his throne. + +In another there was the kitchen of Cinderella's house, with Cinderella +holding her skirt back and looking in ecstacy at two perfect crystal +slippers on her feet, while her mother and sisters _and a perfectly +fascinating prince_ looked on with rapture. + +In another there was Everychild, being held close to his mother's side, +while the father stood apart, his hands in his trousers pockets and a +complacent smile on his lips. There was the lamp shade with the red +beads, and the clock like a state capitol, and everything. + +As the curtains went up the persons in the various groups looked out +upon Truth, who asked in a perfectly assured tone: + +"Good people, tell me: am I wearing a mask?" + + +Let me close my tale by leaving the answer to you, dear reader. + +What is your decision? + +Does she wear a mask? + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVERYCHILD*** + + +******* This file should be named 17521.txt or 17521.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/2/17521 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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