hers followed, and I went up to the top and looked at the
whirling wheels, fearing to make the leap. But at last I became
fascinated and could not take away my eyes. I did not care about the pot
of gold, nor about the rainbows, nor did I exactly like the idea of being
"ground down to a proper size." But I looked at the wheels until I became
dizzy, and at length fell into the whirl and was pitched and turned about
in the most frightful way until I came out at the bottom. I felt as big
as ever, but when I looked up and saw the eyes of the people staring at
me through the peep-holes and found that these eyes were nearly as large
across as I was tall, I knew that I must have been ground down. I ran
after the children and went on for a long time, trying to find the ends
of the rainbows. There were many suns in the sky and many rainbows, but
no pots of gold, nor would the ends of the rainbows wait for us.

At length we came to the one written over with unknown letters that shone
with their own light. This one stood still, having one end resting in a
low-lying valley and the other end on top of a high mountain, which was
very steep and difficult to climb. At the lower end we found an earthen
pot sealed up, which the gentleman in the white hat proceeded to open. To
the disappointment of the lady with the red parasol and all of us, there
was not a piece of gold in it--only a paper on which was written,

"THE GOLD IS AT THE HIGHEST END OF THE RAINBOW."

We looked up the mountain-side, but all of us by this time felt too weary
and lazy to scramble up the cliffs, and among the thorns to find a pot of
gold. Besides we were hungry, and not a little uneasy as to how we should
get back our proper size. A ground-down Pickaninny who had joined us
proposed to hop over along the arch of the rainbow and see whether there
was any gold on the mountain-top. Being very light he easily ran up the
bow, while we, anxious to get out, did not even wait for him to come
back, but hurried down the long road toward the peep-holes and the
grinding-machine. I say the long road, for it seemed miles to us little
people. I suppose we had travelled twice the length of a good-sized house
from the starting-point, and that is a long journey for legs so short.

All the way we wondered how we should get out, and whether we should ever
regain our proper stature. When we came to the grinding place the mill
was still. We accosted an old Garuly who was wa