Lilith

"I will," I replied−−and sat down.
"Indeed you must go at once!" whispered Lona, who had been supporting me, and now knelt beside me.
"I listened at his door," said one of the bigger boys, "and heard the bad giant say to his wife that he had found
you idle, talking to a lot of moles and squirrels, and when he beat you, they tried to kill him. He said you
were a wizard, and they must knock you, or they would have no peace."
"I will go at once," I said, "and come back as soon as I have found out what is wanted to make you bigger and
stronger."
"We don't want to be bigger," they answered, looking very serious. "We WON'T grow bad giants!−−We are
strong now; you don't know how much strong!"
It was no use holding them out a prospect that had not any attraction for them! I said nothing more, but rose
and moved slowly up the slope of the valley. At once they formed themselves into a long procession; some
led the way, some walked with me helping me, and the rest followed. They kept feeding me as we went.
"You are broken," they said, "and much red juice has run out of you: put some in."
When we reached the edge of the valley, there was the moon just lifting her forehead over the rim of the
horizon.
"She has come to take care of you, and show you the way," said Lona.
I questioned those about me as we walked, and learned there was a great place with a giant−girl for queen.
When I asked if it was a city, they said they did not know. Neither could they tell how far off, or in what
direction it was, or what was the giant−girl's name; all they knew was, that she hated the Little Ones, and
would like to kill them, only she could not find them. I asked how they knew that; Lona answered that she
had always known it. If the giant−girl came to look for them, they must hide hard, she said. When I told them
I should go and ask her why she hated them, they cried out,
"No, no! she will kill you, good giant; she will kill you! She is an awful bad−giant witch!"
I asked them where I was to go then. They told me that, beyond the baby−forest, away where the moon came
from, lay a smooth green country, pleasant to the feet, without rocks or trees. But when I asked how I was to
set out for it,
"The moon will tell you, we think," they said.
They were taking me up the second branch of the river bed: when they saw that the moon had reached her
height, they stopped to return.
"We have never gone so far from our trees before," they said. "Now mind you watch how you go, that you
may see inside your eyes how to come back to us."
"And beware of the giant−woman that lives in the desert," said one of the bigger girls as they were turning, "I
suppose you have heard of her!"
"No," I answered.
Lilith
Lilith 45