Everychild | Page 9

same thing
would happen again. Your father made a great mistake when he agreed
to lose you the first time, simply because your mother asked him to.
You know what the book says: 'If a man yields once he's done for.'
You'd much better go along with me."
Hansel became all curiosity at once. "Where to?" he asked.
Everychild undertook to reply quite frankly; but all of a sudden he
became dumb. It had seemed to him that he knew very well where he
was going. Even now he felt that the answer ought to be perfectly
simple. Just the same, he could not think of a single word!
Then he heard a voice behind him. "He has set forth on a quest of
Truth!" said the voice.
That was it, of course! He turned gratefully--and there was the Masked
Lady! She seemed to be smiling to herself, as if she had thought of
something which amused her. But on the whole her manner was really
friendly and serious.
Nevertheless, Everychild was not at all sure that he was glad to see her.
The mask she wore really did give her a very strange appearance. Still,
he faced Hansel with a certain proud bearing. "That is it," he said.
And then he turned about again to look at the Masked Lady, for he had
noted that there was something strange about her appearance. She had

left her spinning wheel somewhere. Now she carried the crook of a
shepherdess. One hand rested lightly on the limb of a tree. And there
were sheep not far away. Some were lying on the grass resting; and
some were moving about, their eyes and noses seemingly very much
alive--and their tails. They wiggled their tails with the greatest energy.
"I didn't expect to see you here," said Everychild.
The Masked Lady replied, again with that queer smile about her lips, "I
am very often near when you think I am far away."
And then Everychild perceived another person standing not far from
the Masked Lady: a little man wearing large spectacles and thread-bare
clothes. He was looking at nothing whatever save a note-book which he
carried in his hand, and he was scribbling intently. Occasionally he
lifted his hand high and touched the note-book with his pencil, and
drew the pencil away with a precise movement. This was when he was
making a period.
"And the--the gentleman," said Everychild. "Is he somebody who
belongs to you?"
The Masked Lady seemed surprised by this question, until she
perceived the little man with the note-book. Then she replied
lightly--"Oh--him! That's Mr. Literal. No, he doesn't belong with me.
Quite the contrary. Though I believe he likes to be seen in my
company."
Everychild stared at the little man called Mr. Literal. "I don't like his
looks at all," he admitted. "Maybe he'll go away after awhile?"
The Masked Lady aroused herself slightly. "I can tell you something
about him," she said. "He's . . . you know the kind of boy who is
forever tagging along--when you want to go anywhere, I mean? Who is
forever disagreeing with you, and wanting things done in a different
way? Who winds up by tattling? A tattle-tale I think perhaps you call
it."

Everychild nodded his head. "You mean a snitch?" he asked.
The Masked Lady flinched a little, though she smiled too. "Is that the
word?" she asked. "Well, I've no doubt it's as good as another. If you
like you may think of Mr. Literal as a--a snitch."
The little man made a period on his note-book and drew his pencil
away with a precise movement. He looked at the Masked Lady with a
smug smile. "That word snitch," he said. "It's entirely out of place, you
know--after you've once introduced Aladdin and Hansel and Grettel in
your story. And a giant. It's slang, and it came into use long after the
race of giants became extinct."
The Masked Lady replied calmly: "The race of giants has never
become extinct."
Mr. Literal had not ceased to smile in his smug fashion. "Ah, well," he
said; and he began to scribble again, and while he did so he wandered
away. You'd have said he had not the slightest idea where he was. He
had not even seen Hansel and Grettel!
Everychild looked after the retreating Mr. Literal until he remembered
suddenly that he had asked Hansel and Grettel to go along with him.
Then he heard Grettel say in a really eager voice: "A quest of Truth!
That sounds very interesting to me!"
But Hansel had to spoil it all by saying: "It would sound more
interesting to me if he said he was looking for something to eat."
Grettel said, "Oh, Hansel!" in such a tone that Everychild regarded