by a river--dry in the winter. From his earliest years, Wee Willie
Winkie had been forbidden to go across the river, and had noted
that even Coppy--the almost almighty Coppy--had never set foot
beyond it. Wee Willie Winkie had once been read to, out of a big
blue book, the history of the Princess find the Goblins--a most
wonderful tale of a land where the Goblins were always warring
with the children of men until they were defeated by one Curdie.
Ever since that date it seemed to him that the bare black and
purple hills across the river were inhabited by Goblins, and, in
truth, every one had said that there lived the Bad Men. Even in
his own house the lower halves of the windows were covered with
green paper on account of the Bad Men who might, if allowed clear
view, fire into peaceful drawing-rooms and comfortable bedrooms.
Certainly, beyond the river, which was the end of all the Earth,
lived the Bad Men. And here was Major Allardyce's big girl,
Coppy's property, preparing to venture into their borders! What
would Coppy say if anything happened to her? If the Goblins ran
off with her as they did with Curdie's Princess? She must at all
hazards be turned back.

The house was still. Wee Willie Winkie reflected for a moment on
the very terrible wrath of his father, and then--broke his arrest!
It was a crime unspeakable. The low sun threw his shadow, very
large and very black, on the trim garden-paths, as he went down to
the stables and ordered his pony. It seemed to him in the hush of
the dawn that all the big world had been bidden to stand still and
look at Wee Willie Winkie guilty of mutiny. The drowsy sais gave
him his mount, and, since the one great sin made all others
insignificant, Wee Willie Winkie said that he was going to ride
over to Coppy Sahib, and went out at a foot-pace, stepping on the