out, making his servant show and explain everything
to him. He found that there were in that place the most beautiful walks
in which he might ramble about for miles, in all directions, without
ever finding an end to them, so immensely large was the hill in which
the little people lived, and yet outwardly it seemed but a little place,
with a few bushes and trees growing on it.

It was extraordinary that, between the meads and fields, which were
thick sown with hills and lakes and islands, and ornamented with trees
and flowers in great variety, there ran, as it were, small lanes,
through which, as through crystal rocks, one was obliged to pass to come
to any new place; and the single meads and fields were often a mile
long, and the flowers were so brilliant and so fragrant, and the songs
of the numerous birds so sweet, that John had never seen anything on
earth like it. There was a breeze, and yet one did not feel the wind. It
was quite clear and bright, and yet there was no heat. The waves were
dashing, still there was no danger, and the most beautiful little barks
and canoes came, like white swans, when one wanted to cross the water,
and went backwards and forwards of themselves. Whence all this came no
one knew, nor could John's servant tell anything about it, but one thing
John saw plainly, which was, that the large carbuncles and diamonds that
were set in the roof and walls gave light instead of the sun, moon, and
stars.

These lovely meads and plains were, for the most part, all lonesome. Few
of the underground people were to be seen upon them, and those that were
just glided across them as if in the greatest hurry. It very rarely
happened that any of them danced out there in the open air. Sometimes
about three of them did so, or, at the most, half a dozen. John never
saw a greater number together. The meads were never cheerful except when
the servants, of whom there might be some hundreds, were let out to
walk. This, however, happened but twice a week, for they were mostly
kept employed in the great hall and adjoining apartments or at school.

For John soon found they had schools there also. He had been there about
ten months when one day he saw something snow-white gliding into a rock
and disappearing.

"What!" said he to his servant, "are there some of you that wear white
like the servants?"

He was informed that there were, but they were few in number, and never
appeared at the large tables or the dances, e