144 



Charley s WoiidcTfjil Journeys. 



" Why don't you go away? " said he at 

 length. " I don't want you to come here 

 and say the green cheese must come to an 

 end— I don't Hke it. Why don't you go 

 and look for the Maid in the Moon ? Go 

 away." 



"I suppose," said Charley, "she's at the 

 other end of the green cheese, eating this 

 way." 



"What's that?" said the old man with 

 such a start that he gulped down his mouth- 

 ful, and fairly stopped eating. "I haven't 

 seen the Maid of the Moon since the be- 

 ginning, and do you say she's been at the 

 other end of the green cheese, eating this 

 way all the time ? " With that he thrust an- 

 other lump of cheese into his mouth, and 

 began munching savagely, and looking 

 down the canal as if to estimate how much 

 green cheese the Maid of the Moon might 

 possibly have eaten. 



"If you like the green cheese so much 

 why don't you see how far it goes? " 



" You want me to go away that you may 

 stay here and eat green cheese," said he, 

 suspiciously, "but I won't go." 



" I don't want to eat your green cheese," 

 said Charley. "I'll go with you; perhaps 

 we shall find the Maid in the Moon." 



" Come along then," said the old man ex- 

 citedly, climbing up out of the canal to the 

 high ground. As soon as he was up he 

 broke off a huge mass of green cheese 

 from the vein, and began munching again. 



Charley climbed up, too, and there, not 

 fifty yards in front of him, the hard rock 

 rose straight up in front of the green 

 cheese vein. 



"Why, there is the end of the green 

 cheese," said Charley, pointing to the rock, 

 " It doesn't go any further than that." 



The man stuffed a fresh piece of green 

 cheese in his mouth, broke off another 

 piece, and ran over to the rocky ridge and 

 examined it, but it was hard rock. Then 

 he tried right and left to see if the green 

 cheese vein had perhaps changed its course, 



but it was all rock — hard rock. Then he 

 tried to get behind the ridge, but there, 

 too, was nothing but rock to be seen. 

 A few more years and all his green cheese 

 would be finished, and what would he do 

 then? 



As the truth gradually dawned upon him 

 his agony was something dreadful to wit- 

 ness; the green cheese stuck in his throat, 

 he gulped it down, raised another piece to 

 his mouth, but his feelings were too much 

 for him — he dropped the green cheese to 

 the ground, put his hands to his face, and 

 burst into a passionate fit of wailing and 

 weeping. 



Charley thought this was a good time to 

 go in quest of the Maid in the Moon, and 

 away he started. 



On he went over hill and dale, but there 

 was nothing but hard flinty rock anywhere; 

 not a tree, nor a plant, nor a blade of grass, 

 not even a sign of green cheese, but after 

 he had gone a long way he suddenly 

 thought he detected the odor of roses and 

 jasmines. He stopped, sniffed in the air, 

 and found sure enough that it was laden 

 with rich perfumes. He seemed to be en- 

 tering another world, his step was elastic, 

 he threw up his head, his chest expanded, 

 his whole nature seemed to be lifted up, 

 in fact he felt like a totally different being, 

 and as he walked on eagerly he soon came 

 in sight of a beautiful garden, full of many- 

 hued flowers, exhaling the richest perfume. 



As he drew nearer he saw the Maid of 

 the Moon flitting rapidly about the garden, 

 bending all the time over the flowers, but 

 what she was doing he could not make out. 



He drew nearer and nearer, and at last 

 got almost close behind her without attract- 

 ing her attention, and then imagine his 

 astonishment to find that she was weeping 

 a perfect shower of tears — actually watering 

 the flowers with them. 



She looked very young and nice; nobody 

 would ever have thought that she was ten 

 thousand years old, and Charley felt so 



