people? Can a roboteacher understand Shakespeare?"

The thin metal voice responded. "Witches are real and unreal. Witches
are a part of the reality of the mind, and the human mind is real. We
roboteachers are the repository of the human mind. We hold all the
wisdom and the knowledge and the aspirations of the human race. We hold
these for you, the children, in trust. Your good is our highest law. Do
you understand?"

The children nodded. The metallic voice went on. "Let us return to
_Macbeth_ for our concluding quotation. The weather, fortune, many
things are implied in Macbeth's opening speech. He says, '_So foul and
fair a day I have not seen._' The paradox is both human and appropriate.
One day you will understand this even more. Repeat the quotation after
me, please, and try to understand it."

The childish voices lifted. "_So foul and fair a day I have not seen._"

The roboteacher stood up. "And there's the closing bell. Do not hurry
away, for you are to remain here tonight. There will be a school party,
a sleep-together party. We will all sleep here in the school building."

"You mean we can't go home?"

The face of the littlest girl screwed up. "I want to go home."

"You may go home tomorrow. There will be a holiday tomorrow. A party
tonight and a holiday tomorrow for every school on earth."

The tears were halted for a moment. The voice was querulous. "But I want
to go home now."

Johnny Malone, the Mayor's son, put one hand on the littlest girl.
"Don't cry, Mary. The robots don't care if you cry or not. You can't
hurt them or cry them out of anything. We'll all go home in the
morning."

The robots began to bring cots and to place them in the schoolroom, row
on row. The children were led out into the play quadrangle to play. One
of the robots taught them a new game, and after that took them to supper
served in the school's cafeteria. No other robot was left in the
building, but it did not matter, because the doors were locked so that
the children could not go home.

The other robots had begun to walk out into the town, and as they walked
the robots walked from other schools, in other towns. All over the
country, all over the towns, the robots walked to tell the people that
the children would not be home from school, and do what had to be done.

In the schools, the roboteachers told stories until the children fell
asleep.

* * * * *

Morning came. The robots were u