“There,” said the little boy, pointing away into the forest, where not a sign of a house was visible.

Here Grettel spoke for the first time:  “Let’s not,” she said.  “I don’t think I care about wandering away into the woods.”

“We might get lost,” suggested Cinderella.

And now the giant interposed.  “I agree with Everychild that we ought to take the little boy and his brothers and sisters with us,” he said; “and as for wandering away into the woods, that will not be necessary.  I’ll take you to the house where the little boy lives by a secret method which I understand.”

With that he faced the depths of the forest and stood very erect, with hands uplifted.  There was a very solemn expression in his eyes.  And suddenly it seemed that the nearby trees began to lift and disappear; and presto!—­Everychild and his companions were standing quite close to one of the most famous and remarkable houses ever heard of.

Everychild had too little time just then to marvel at the strange feat which had been performed by the giant.  He was lost in amazement at the house before which he stood.

It was really an immense, dilapidated shoe, patched and broken.  The toe was about to gape open, though it was held here and there by a few threads.  The laces were gone and the whole upper sprawled shapelessly.  In brief, it was precisely like any old shoe you will see on a vacant lot, save for its immense size.  Its size was prodigious.  It was as large as a small house.

A stovepipe stuck out where the little toe would be, and smoke was pouring out of the pipe just as if some one had been putting a supply of fuel on the fire.  It was woodsmoke and had a pleasant smell.  It seemed that perhaps some one was preparing supper.

Not a soul was in sight about the house—­or the shoe—­nor about the premises.  Yet you could see that some one had been hard at work only a short time before.  The wash had been hung out to dry and it was still damp.  It hung from a line which was suspended from the highest point of the shoe—­where the strap is that you pull it on by—­to the limb of a nearby tree.  You could tell by the garments that there were a lot of children about.  There were best shirts and every-day shirts and petticoats and trousers.  There were many colors, so that they all made a rather gay spectacle.  And some were of ordinary size, and some were quite tiny.

There were many trees in the background; and one of these cast its shade over the immense shoe in a very pleasing way.  There was a table under the tree, and a kind of dinner-bell hanging from a limb of the tree.  There were chairs about the table.  Finally, there was a ladder standing against the shoe, so that you could climb up and get in at the top.

“And so,” said Everychild in a tone of wonder, “this is where you live!” He had taken the little boy by the hand.

The little boy was about to reply when something almost alarming happened.  The little boy slipped his hand away from Everychild’s and shrank back until he was hiding behind Cinderella’s skirt.  An astonishing head and shoulders appeared above the top of the shoe!