eir lives; and look at the dog instead; for
he knows the way well enough, and will not forget it. Besides, you may
meet some very queer-tempered people there, who will not let you pass
without this passport of mine, which you must hang round your neck and
take care of; and, of course, as the dog will always go behind you, you
must go the whole way backward."

"Backward!" cried Tom. "Then I shall not be able to see my way."

"On the contrary, if you look forward, you will not see a step before
you, and be certain to go wrong; but, if you look behind you, and watch
carefully whatever you have passed, and especially keep your eye on the
dog, who goes by instinct, and therefore can't go wrong, then you will
know what is coming next, as plainly as if you saw it in a
looking-glass."

Tom was very much astonished: but he obeyed her, for he had learnt
always to believe what the fairies told him.

"So it is, my dear child," said Mother Carey; "and I will tell you a
story, which will show you that I am perfectly right, as it is my custom
to be.

"Once on a time, there were two brothers. One was called Prometheus,
because he always looked before him, and boasted that he was wise
beforehand. The other was called Epimetheus, because he always looked
behind him, and did not boast at all; but said humbly, like the
Irishman, that he had sooner prophesy after the event.

[Illustration: "Pandora and her box."--_P. 224._]

"Well, Prometheus was a very clever fellow, of course, and invented all
sorts of wonderful things. But, unfortunately, when they were set to
work, to work was just what they would not do: wherefore very little has
come of them, and very little is left of them; and now nobody knows what
they were, save a few archaeological old gentlemen who scratch in queer
corners, and find little there save Ptinum Furem, Blaptem Mortisagam,
Acarum Horridum, and Tineam Laciniarum.

"But Epimetheus was a very slow fellow, certainly, and went among men
for a clod, and a muff, and a milksop, and a slowcoach, and a bloke, and
a boodle, and so forth. And very little he did, for many years: but what
he did, he never had to do over again.

"And what happened at last? There came to the two brothers the most
beautiful creature that ever was seen, Pandora by name; which means, All
the gifts of the Gods. But because she had a strange box in her hand,
this fanciful, forecasting, suspicious, prudential, theoretical,
deductive, prophesying