can see in the fire now."

"Very well. Suppose, then, first, that you almost close your eyes, but
not quite, so that you will not see the fire so plainly, and it will
all run together and look dim and misty. When I look at it in that way
it seems to me to be fire no more, but water. It is as if we were down
under a broad, deep river, and could see all the mass of water slowly
eddying and whirling and flowing on above us, with just the little glow
and glimmer of brightness that come down from the daylight and the air
above. But there is one little spot that is brighter, right in the
middle of the fire, where you see that one little yellow flame all by
itself. In my picture, it is like a big lump of pure gold, resting on a
point of rock that stands straight up from the bottom of the river. It
is really gold, and magic gold at that, for you know wonderful
treasures often lie at the bottoms of rivers. One of the wonderful
things about this gold is that, if anybody could have a ring made of
it, he could compel everybody else to obey him and serve him, and could
rule the whole world.

"Three forms I can see now moving backward and forward, and up and
down, and around and around about the gold. Now they grow a little
clearer. They are river nymphs, or something of the sort, and they are
here to guard the gold, lest anybody should try to steal it. It would
not be easy to steal, even if it had no guard, and knowing this has
perhaps made these pretty keepers a little careless about it, so that
now, instead of watching it very closely, they are swimming and diving
and circling about, trying to catch one another, having the jolliest
time in the world, and never thinking that there may be danger near."

"And you can see all those things in the fire?" said the little girl.