would not hold more than half of it; and the instant she was
gone, what she had not yet taken fled away underground, leaving the
country as dry and dusty as her own heart. Were it not for the waters
under it, every living thing would long ago have perished from it. For
where no water is, no rain falls; and where no rain falls, no springs
rise. Ever since then, the princess has lived in Bulika, holding the
inhabitants in constant terror, and doing what she can to keep them from
multiplying. Yet they boast and believe themselves a prosperous, and
certainly are a self-satisfied people--good at bargaining and buying,
good at selling and cheating; holding well together for a common
interest, and utterly treacherous where interests clash; proud of their
princess and her power, and despising every one they get the better of;
never doubting themselves the most honourable of all the nations, and
each man counting himself better than any other. The depth of their
worthlessness and height of their vainglory no one can understand who
has not been there to see, who has not learned to know the miserable
misgoverned and self-deceived creatures."

"I thank you, madam. And now, if you please, will you tell me something
about the Little Ones--the Lovers? I long heartily to serve them. Who
and what are they? and how do they come to be there? Those children are
the greatest wonder I have found in this world of wonders."

"In Bulika you may, perhaps, get some light on those matters. There is
an ancient poem in the library of the palace, I am told, which of course
no one there can read, but in which it is plainly written that after the
Lovers have gone through great troubles and learned their own name, they
will fill the land, and make the giants their slaves."

"By that time they will have grown a little, will they not?" I said.

"Yes, they will have grown; yet I think too they will not have grown.
It is possible to grow and not to grow, to grow less and to grow bigger,
both at once--yes, even to grow by means of not growing!"

"Your words are strange, madam!" I rejoined. "But I have heard it said
that some words, because they mean more, appear to mean less!"

"That is true, and such words HAVE to be understood. It were well for
the princess of Bulika if she heard what the very silence of the land
is shouting in her ears all day long! But she is far too clever to
understand anything."

"Then I suppose, when the little Lovers are grow