the next labour shall
be the disentangling of the Mazy Carpet. It is in the Pillared Hall of
Public Amusements. I will get my hat and we will go there at once. I
can tell you about it as we go.'

And as they went down streets and past houses and palaces all of which
Philip could now dimly remember to have built at some time or other, Mr.
Noah went on:

'It is a very beautiful hall, but we have never been able to use it for
public amusement or anything else. The giant who originally built this
city placed in this hall a carpet so thick that it rises to your knees,
and so intricately woven that none can disentangle it. It is far too
thick to pass through any of the doors. It is your task to remove it.'

'Why that's as easy as easy,' said Philip. 'I'll cut it in bits and
bring out a bit at a time.'

'That would be most unfortunate for you,' said Mr. Noah. 'I filed only
this morning a very ancient prophecy:

'He who shall the carpet sever,
By fire or flint or steel,
Shall be fed on orange pips for ever,
And dressed in orange peel.

You wouldn't like that, you know.'

'No,' said Philip grimly, 'I certainly shouldn't.'

'The carpet must be _unravelled_, unwoven, so that not a thread is
broken. Here is the hall.'

They went up steps--Philip sometimes wished he had not been so fond of
building steps--and through a dark vestibule to an arched door. Looking
through it they saw a great hall and at its end a raised space, more
steps, and two enormous pillars of bronze wrought in relief with figures
of flying birds.

'Father's Japanese vases,' Lucy whispered.

The floor of the room was covered by the carpet. It was loosely but
difficultly woven of very thick soft rope of a red colour. When I say
difficultly, I mean that it wasn't just straight-forward in the weaving,
but the threads went over and under and round about in such a determined
and bewildering way that Philip felt--and said--that he would rather
untie the string of a hundred of the most difficult parcels than tackle
this.

'Well,' said Mr. Noah, 'I leave you to it. Board and lodging will be
provided at the Provisional Palace where you slept last night. All
citizens are bound to assist when called upon. Dinner is at one.
_Good_-morning!'

Philip sat down in the dark archway and gazed helplessly at the twisted
strands of the carpet. After a moment of hesitation Lucy sat down too,
clasped her arms round her kn