When he came out into the Treasure Valley, a river, like the Golden River,
was springing from a new cleft in the rocks above, and flowing among the
heaps of dry sand. And then fresh grass sprang beside the river, flowers
opened along its sides, and vines began to cover the whole valley. The
Treasure Valley was becoming a garden again.

Gluck lived in the Valley, and his grapes were blue, and his apples were
red, and his corn was yellow; and the poor were never driven from his
door. For him, as the King had promised, the river was really a River of
Gold.

* * * * *

It will probably be clear to anyone who has followed these attempts, that
the first step in adaptation is analysis, careful analysis of the story
as it stands. One asks oneself, What is the story? Which events are
necessary links in the chain? How much of the text is pure description?

Having this essential body of the story in mind, one then decides which of
the steps toward the climax are needed for safe arrival there, and keeps
these. When two or more steps can be covered in a single stride, one makes
the stride. When a necessary explanation is unduly long, or is woven into
the story in too many strands, one disposes of it in an introductory
statement, or perhaps in a side remark. If there are two or more threads
of narrative, one chooses among them, and holds strictly to the one
chosen, eliminating details which concern the others.

In order to hold the simplicity of plot so attained, it is also desirable
to have but few personages in the story, and to narrate the action from