eriod 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