d and bringing up with a jerk on the end of his tether. "This is no
justice! I have nothing to do with--"

The guards caught up with him and clamped brown hands firmly over his
mouth. The Spokesman watched with amused malice.

"The accusations are three," the Spokesman said. "The first, the telling
of lies to children. Second, the casting into doubt of the divine order
among men. Third, the denial of the Book of Laws. Each of you may speak
in order of age. Honath the Pursemaker, your plea may be heard."

Honath stood up, trembling a little, but feeling a surprisingly renewed
surge of his old independence.

"Your charges," he said, "all rest upon the denial of the Book of Laws.
I have taught nothing else that is contrary to what we all believe, and
called nothing else into doubt. And I deny the charge."

The Spokesman looked down at him with disbelief. "Many men and women
have said that you do not believe in the Giants, pursemaker," he said.
"You will not win mercy by piling up more lies."

"I deny the charge," Honath insisted. "I believe in the Book of Laws as
a whole, and I believe in the Giants. I have taught only that the Giants
were not real in the sense that we are real. I have taught that they
were intended as symbols of some higher reality and were not meant to be
taken as literal persons."

"What higher reality is this?" the Spokesman demanded. "Describe it."

"You ask me to do something the writers of the Book of Laws themselves
couldn't do," Honath said hotly. "If they had to embody the reality in
symbols rather than writing it down directly, how could a mere
pursemaker do better?"

"This doctrine is wind," the Spokesman said. "And it is plainly intended
to undercut authority and the order established by the Book. Tell me,
pursemaker: if men need not fear the Giants, why should they fear the
law?"

"Because they are men, and it is to their interest to fear the law. They
aren't children, who need some physical Giant sitting over them with a
whip to make them behave. Furthermore, Spokesman, this archaic belief
_itself_ undermines us. As long as we believe that there are real
Giants, and that some day they'll return and resume teaching us, so long
will we fail to seek answers to our questions for ourselves. Half of
what we know was given to us in the Book, and the other half is supposed
to drop to us from the skies if we wait long enough. In the meantime, we
vegetate."

"If a part of the Book be untr