Coming,in one of the channels,upon what seemed a little shrub,the outlying picket,I trusted,of an army behind it,I knelt to look at it closer.It bore a small fruit,which,as I did not recognise it,I feared to gather and eat.Little I thought that I was watched from behind the rocks by hundreds of eyes eager with the question whether I would or would not take it.
I came to another plant somewhat bigger,then to another larger still,and at length to clumps of a like sort;by which time I saw that they were not shrubs but dwarf-trees.Before I reached the bank of this second branch of the river-bed,I found the channels so full of them that it was with difficulty I crossed such as Icould not jump.In one I heard a great rush,as of a multitude of birds from an ivied wall,but saw nothing.
I came next to some large fruit-bearing trees,but what they bore looked coarse.They stood on the edge of a hollow,which evidently had once been the basin of a lake.From the left a forest seemed to flow into and fill it;but while the trees above were of many sorts,those in the hollow were almost entirely fruit-bearing.
I went a few yards down the slope of grass mingled with moss,and stretched myself upon it weary.A little farther down stood a tiny tree full of rosiest apples no bigger than small cherries,its top close to my hand;I pulled and ate one of them.Finding it delicious,I was in the act of taking another,when a sudden shouting of children,mingled with laughter clear and sweet as the music of a brook,startled me with delight.
"He likes our apples!He likes our apples!He's a good giant!
He's a good giant!"cried many little voices.
"He's a giant!"objected one.
"He IS rather big,"assented another,"but littleness isn't everything!It won't keep you from growing big and stupid except you take care!"I rose on my elbow and stared.Above and about and below me stood a multitude of children,apparently of all ages,some just able to run alone,and some about twelve or thirteen.Three or four seemed older.They stood in a small knot,a little apart,and were less excited than the rest.The many were chattering in groups,declaiming and contradicting,like a crowd of grown people in a city,only with greater merriment,better manners,and more sense.
I gathered that,by the approach of my hand to a second apple,they knew that I liked the first;but how from that they argued me good,I did not see,nor wondered that one of them at least should suggest caution.I did not open my mouth,for I was afraid of frightening them,and sure I should learn more by listening than by asking questions.For I understood nearly all they said--at which I was not surprised:to understand is not more wonderful than to love.
There came a movement and slight dispersion among them,and presently a sweet,innocent-looking,lovingly roguish little fellow handed me a huge green apple.Silence fell on the noisy throng;all waited expectant.
"Eat,good giant,"he said.
I sat up,took the apple,smiled thanks,and would have eaten;but the moment I bit into it,I flung it far away.