Mopsa had taken a honeycomb from the rock,
so that they all had a very nice breakfast. And the apple-woman gave
them a great deal of good advice, and told them if they wished to
remain in Fairyland, and not be caught by the brown doe and her
followers, they must cross over the purple mountains. "For on the
other side of those peaks," she said, "I have heard that fairies live
who have the best of characters for being kind and just. I am sure
they would never shut up a poor queen in a castle.

"But the best thing you could do, dear," she said to Mopsa, "would be
to let Jack call the bird, and make her carry you back to his own
country."

"The Queen is not at all kind," said Jack; "I have been very kind to
her, and she should have let Mopsa stay."

"No, Jack, she could not," said Mopsa; "but I wish I had not grown so
fast, and I don't like to go to your country. I would rather run
away."

"But who is to tell us where to run?" asked Jack.

"Oh," said Mopsa, "some of these people."

"I don't see anybody," said Jack, looking about him.

Mopsa pointed to a group of stones, and then to another group, and
as Jack looked he saw that in shape they were something like
people,--stone people. One stone was a little like an old man with
a mantle over him, and he was sitting on the ground with his knees up
nearly to his chin. Another was like a woman with a hood on, and
she seemed to be leaning her chin on her hand. Close to these stood
something very much like a cradle in shape; and beyond were stones
that resembled a flock of sheep lying down on the bare sand, with
something that reminded Jack of the figure of a man lying asleep
near them, with his face to the ground.

That was a very curious country; all the stones reminded you of people
or of animals, and the shadows that they cast were much more like than
the stones themselves. There were blocks with things that you might
have mistaken for stone ropes twisted round them; but, looking at the
shadows, you could see distinctly that they were trees, and that what
coiled round were snakes. Then there was a rocky prominence, at one
side of which was something like a sitting figure, but its shadow,
lying on the ground, was that of a girl with a distaff. Jack was very
much surprised at all this; Mopsa was not. She did not see, she said,
that one thing was more wonderful than another. All the fairy lands
were wonderful, but the men-and-women world was far more so. She and
Jack w