t
she was frightened, I set her down again.

"At my feet, hardly more than a few steps away, lay the tiny city of
Arite and the lake. I could see all around the latter now, and could
make out clearly a line of hills on the other side. Off to the left the
road wound up out of sight in the distance. As far as I could see, a
line of soldiers was passing out along this road--marching four abreast,
with carts at intervals, loaded evidently with supplies; only
occasionally, now, vehicles passed in the other direction. Can I make it
plain to you, gentlemen, my sensations in changing stature? I felt at
first as though I were tremendously high in the air, looking down as
from a balloon upon the familiar territory beneath me. That feeling
passed after a few moments, and I found that my point of view had
changed. I no longer felt that I was looking down from a balloon, but
felt as a normal person feels. And again I conceived myself but six feet
tall, standing above a dainty little toy world. It is all in the
viewpoint, of course, and never, during all my changes, was I for more
than a moment able to feel of a different stature than I am at this
present instant. It was always everything else that changed.

"According to the directions I had received from the king, I started now
to follow the course of the road. I found it difficult walking, for the
country was dotted with houses, trees, and cultivated fields, and each
footstep was a separate problem.

"I progressed in this manner perhaps two miles, covering what the day
before I would have called about a hundred and thirty or forty miles.
The country became wilder as I advanced, and now was in places crowded
with separate collections of troops.

"I have not mentioned the commotion I made in this walk over the
country. My coming must have been told widely by couriers the night
before, to soldiers and peasantry alike, or the sight of me would have
caused utter demoralization. As it was, I must have been terrifying to a
tremendous degree. I think the careful way in which I picked my course,
stepping in the open as much as possible, helped to reassure the people.
Behind me, whenever I turned, they seemed rather more curious than
fearful, and once or twice when I stopped for a few moments they
approached my feet closely. One athletic young soldier caught the loose
end of the string of one of my buskins, as it hung over my instep close
to the ground and pulled himself up hand over ha