And then something very strange occurred.  The ranks of children were augmented by other children.  Along the road they came dreamily and took their places in the procession.  They were Little Red Riding-Hood and the Babes in the Wood (the latter brushing withered leaves from their garments) and other children whose stories are known to be sad ones.  And there was Aladdin again!—­carrying his lamp, and smiling a little mischievously.

Then the Masked Lady, in the guise of the Pied Piper, resumed her march, facing straight ahead, and moving with grace and majesty.  And the entire procession began to move.

The children scarcely gave a thought to where they were going.  Nor did they give a thought to going back.  They were moved by a power which they did not understand to keep step with the music of the pipe.

On and on they marched—­on and on.  They passed through silent forests and across beautiful plains, up gentle hills and through sheltered fells.  And the melody of the piper became so strongly accented that they could not help keeping step, even if they had wished not to do so.

At last, however, they came to where there was a great dark mountain ahead; and Everychild thought to himself, “Now we shall have to turn back, since it would be too much for us to ascend that high mountain.”

But the Masked Lady continued to march straight toward that dark mountain—­which was, as she well knew, the fearful Mountain of Reality.

The other children all beheld the mountain and they looked at one another with questioning eyes, as if each were asking the other, “Do you not consider it a terrible mountain?” Still, they never ceased to keep step with the music.

They could see the mountain clearly now.  It was cold and bleak and rose into the mists of the sky.  There were great chasms in its sides, and precipitous heights and walls which it would have seemed impossible to scale.  It seemed of a frightful hardness, too.

Most terrible of all, wild hunters were to be seen all the way up to the summit, and terrible beasts; and also one could catch a glimpse of solitary individuals who were climbing to the highest visible points, and some of these were falling back and hurting themselves terribly.

“We cannot advance another step,” thought Everychild; for now they were indeed at the very base of the mountain.

And then a miracle occurred, just when it seemed that the Masked Lady would be compelled to turn back.

The mountain opened!  There was a cavity as large as an immense archway.  Through this the Masked Lady advanced; and then the entire band of children marched straight into the heart of the mountain.

Everychild, looking back, perceived that the mountain had closed again after the last child had entered, so that they were now all prisoners!

That was indeed a dreadful moment; for the heart of the Mountain of Reality was a great gloomy cavern in which everything seemed quite terrible.  Nor would there have seemed any way of escaping from the place.  The light was but dim, so that objects were only obscurely revealed.  But it could be seen that the top of the cavern was very high, while the walls were steep and formidable.