land and sea; and how the Saracens had not these terrible engines
either on sea or land, and so could by no means cross the
Mediterranean or escape destruction on shore even though they should
come there. I alluded to the European railways that could move armies
night and day faster than horses could gallop. And when as well as I
could I had explained all, he answered, "In time all these things pass
away and then there will still be the Saracens."

And then I said, "There has not been a Saracen either in France or
Spain for over four hundred years."

And he said, "The Saracens! You do not know their cunning. That was
ever the way of the Saracens. They do not come for a while, no not
they, for a long while, and then one day they come."

And peering southwards, but not seeing clearly because of the rising
mist, he silently moved to his tower and up its broken steps.

How Plash-Goo Came to the Land of None's Desire

In a thatched cottage of enormous size, so vast that we might consider
it a palace, but only a cottage in the style of its building, its
timbers and the nature of its interior, there lived Plash-Goo.

Plash-Goo was of the children of the giants, whose sire was Uph. And
the lineage of Uph had dwindled in bulk for the last five hundred
years, till the giants were now no more than fifteen foot high; but
Uph ate elephants which he caught with his hands.

Now on the tops of the mountains above the house of Plash-Goo, for
Plash-Goo lived in the plains, there dwelt the dwarf whose name was
Lrippity-Kang. And the dwarf used to walk at evening on the edge of
the tops of the mountains, and would walk up and down along it, and
was squat and ugly and hairy, and was plainly seen of Plash-Goo.

And for many weeks the giant had suffered the sight of him, but at
length grew irked at the sight (as men are by little things), and
could not sleep of a night and lost his taste for pigs. And at last
there came the day, as anyone might have known, when Plash-Goo
shouldered his club and went up to look for the dwarf.

And the dwarf though briefly squat was broader than may be dreamed,
beyond all breadth of man, and stronger than men may know; strength in
its very essence dwelt in that little frame, as a spark in the heart
of a flint: but to Plash-Goo he was no more than mis-shapen, bearded
and squat, a thing that dared to defy all natural laws by being more
broad than long.

When Plash-Goo came to the mountain he c