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But Dorothy satisfied her hunger with other things, and her companions |
did likewise, resisting the temptation. |
"Why do you not eat the damas?" asked the woman's voice. |
"We don't want to get invis'ble," answered the girl. |
"But if you remain visible the bears will see you and devour you," said |
a girlish young voice, that belonged to one of the children. "We who |
live here much prefer to be invisible; for we can still hug and kiss one |
another, and are quite safe from the bears." |
"And we do not have to be so particular about our dress," remarked the |
man. |
"And mama can't tell whether my face is dirty or not!" added the other |
childish voice, gleefully. |
"But I make you wash it, every time I think of it," said the mother; |
"for it stands to reason your face is dirty, Ianu, whether I can see it |
or not." |
Dorothy laughed and stretched out her hands. |
"Come here, please--Ianu and your sister--and let me feel of you," she |
requested. |
They came to her willingly, and Dorothy passed her hands over their |
faces and forms and decided one was a girl of about her own age and the |
other a boy somewhat smaller. The girl's hair was soft and fluffy and |
her skin as smooth as satin. When Dorothy gently touched her nose and |
ears and lips they seemed to be well and delicately formed. |
"If I could see you I am sure you would be beautiful," she declared. |
The girl laughed, and her mother said: |
"We are not vain in the Valley of Voe, because we can not display our |
beauty, and good actions and pleasant ways are what make us lovely to |
our companions. Yet we can see and appreciate the beauties of nature, |
the dainty flowers and trees, the green fields and the clear blue of the |
sky." |
"How about the birds and beasts and fishes?" asked Zeb. |
"The birds we cannot see, because they love to eat of the damas as much |
as we do; yet we hear their sweet songs and enjoy them. Neither can we |
see the cruel bears, for they also eat the fruit. But the fishes that |
swim in our brooks we can see, and often we catch them to eat." |
"It occurs to me you have a great deal to make you happy, even while |
invisible," remarked the Wizard. "Nevertheless, we prefer to remain |
visible while we are in your valley." |
Just then Eureka came in, for she had been until now wandering outside |
with Jim; and when the kitten saw the table set with food she cried out: |
"Now you must feed me, Dorothy, for I'm half starved." |
The children were inclined to be frightened by the sight of the small |
animal, which reminded them of the bears; but Dorothy reassured them by |
explaining that Eureka was a pet and could do no harm even if she wished |
to. Then, as the others had by this time moved away from the table, the |
kitten sprang upon the chair and put her paws upon the cloth to see what |
there was to eat. To her surprise an unseen hand clutched her and held |
her suspended in the air. Eureka was frantic with terror, and tried to |
scratch and bite, so the next moment she was dropped to the floor. |
"Did you see that, Dorothy?" she gasped. |
"Yes, dear," her mistress replied; "there are people living in this |
house, although we cannot see them. And you must have better manners, |
Eureka, or something worse will happen to you." |
She placed a plate of food upon the floor and the kitten ate greedily. |
"Give me that nice-smelling fruit I saw on the table," she begged, when |
she had cleaned the plate. |
"Those are damas," said Dorothy, "and you must never even taste them, |
Eureka, or you'll get invis'ble, and then we can't see you at all." |
The kitten gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit. |
"Does it hurt to be invis'ble?" she asked. |
"I don't know," Dorothy answered; "but it would hurt me dre'fully to |
lose you." |
"Very well, I won't touch it," decided the kitten; "but you must keep it |
away from me, for the smell is very tempting." |
"Can you tell us, sir or ma'am," said the Wizard, addressing the air |
because he did not quite know where the unseen people stood, "if there |
is any way we can get out of your beautiful Valley, and on top of the |
Earth again." |
"Oh, one can leave the Valley easily enough," answered the man's voice; |
"but to do so you must enter a far less pleasant country. As for |
reaching the top of the earth, I have never heard that it is possible to |
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