II 



THE FIVE WORLDS OF LARIE 



Larie was all alone in a little world. He had lived 

 there many days, and had spent the time, minute by 

 minute and hour by hour, doing nothing at all but grow- 

 ing. That one thing he had done well. There is no doubt 

 about that ; for he had grown from a one-celled little be- 

 ginning of life into a creature so big that he filled the 

 whole of his world crammed full. It was smooth, and it 

 was hard, and its sides were curved around and about 

 him so tightly that he could not even stretch his legs. 

 There was no door. Larie was a prisoner. The prison- 

 walls of his world held him so fast that he could not 

 budge. That is, he could not budge anything but his 

 head. He could move that a little. 



Now, that is what we might call being in a fairly tight 

 place. But you don't know Larie if you think he could 

 not get out of it. There are few places so tight that we 

 can't get out of them if we go about it the right way, and 

 make the best of what power we have. That is just 

 what Larie did. He had power to move his head enough 

 to tap, with his beak, against the wall of his world that 

 had become his prison. So he kept tapping with his 

 beak. On the end of it was a queer little knob. With 

 this he knocked against the hard smooth wall. 



18 



