“How about the birds and beasts and fishes?” asked Zeb.

“The birds we cannot see, because they love to eat of the damas as much as we do; yet we hear their sweet songs and enjoy them.  Neither can we see the cruel bears, for they also eat the fruit.  But the fishes that swim in our brooks we can see, and often we catch them to eat.”

“It occurs to me you have a great deal to make you happy, even while invisible,” remarked the Wizard.  “Nevertheless, we prefer to remain visible while we are in your valley.”

Just then Eureka came in, for she had been until now wandering outside with Jim; and when the kitten saw the table set with food she cried out: 

“Now you must feed me, Dorothy, for I’m half starved.”

The children were inclined to be frightened by the sight of the small animal, which reminded them of the bears; but Dorothy reassured them by explaining that Eureka was a pet and could do no harm even if she wished to.  Then, as the others had by this time moved away from the table, the kitten sprang upon the chair and put her paws upon the cloth to see what there was to eat.  To her surprise an unseen hand clutched her and held her suspended in the air.  Eureka was frantic with terror, and tried to scratch and bite, so the next moment she was dropped to the floor,

“Did you see that, Dorothy?” she gasped.

“Yes, dear,” her mistress replied; “there are people living in this house, although we cannot see them.  And you must have better manners, Eureka, or something worse will happen to you.”

She placed a plate of food upon the floor and the kitten ate greedily.

“Give me that nice-smelling fruit I saw on the table,” she begged, when she had cleaned the plate.

“Those are damas,” said Dorothy, “and you must never even taste them, Eureka, or you’ll get invis’ble, and then we can’t see you at all.”

The kitten gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit.

“Does it hurt to be invis’ble?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Dorothy answered; “but it would hurt me dre’fully to lose you.”

“Very well, I won’t touch it,” decided the kitten; “but you must keep it away from me, for the smell is very tempting.”

“Can you tell us, sir or ma’am,” said the Wizard, addressing the air because he did not quite know where the unseen people stood, “if there is any way we can get out of your beautiful Valley, and on top of the Earth again.”

“Oh, one can leave the Valley easily enough,” answered the man’s voice; “but to do so you must enter a far less pleasant country.  As for reaching the top of the earth, I have never heard that it is possible to do that, and if you succeeded in getting there you would probably fall off.”

“Oh, no,” said Dorothy, “we’ve been there, and we know.”

“The Valley of Voe is certainly a charming place,” resumed the Wizard; “but we cannot be contented in any other land than our own, for long.  Even if we should come to unpleasant places on our way it is necessary, in order to reach the earth’s surface, to keep moving on toward it.”