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A CRISIS 95
learned there was a great place with a giant-girl for queen. When I asked if it was a city, they said they did not know. Neither could they tell how far off, or in what direction it was, or what was, the giant-girl's name; all they knew was, that she hated the Little Ones, and would like to kill them, only she could not find them. I asked how they knew that; Lona answered that she had always known it. If the giant-girl came to look for them, they must hide hard, she said. When I told them I should go and ask her why she hated them, they cried out,
' No, no ! she will kill you, good giant; she will kill you! She is an awful bad-giant witch ! '
I asked them where I was to go then. They told me that, beyond the baby-forest, away where the moon came from, lay a smooth green country, pleasant to the feet, without rocks or trees. But when I asked how I was to set out for it,
' The moon will tell you, we think,' they said.
They were taking me up the second branch of the river bed: when they saw that the moon had reached her height, they stopped to return.
We have never gone so far from our trees before,' they said. ' Now mind you watch how you go, that you may see inside your eyes how to come back to us.'
' And beware of the giant-woman that lives in the desert,' said one of the bigger girls as they were turning. ' I suppose you have heard of her!'
' No,' I answered.
' Then take care not to go near her. She is called the Cat-woman. She is awfully ugly—and scratches.'
As soon as the bigger ones stopped, the smaller had begun to run back. The others now looked at me gravely |
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