THE HORSES OF SOL AND MAANE 25 



But his sleek-coated horses were never able to 

 keep pace with Arvak the ever-wakeful, and Als- 

 win the eagle-chaser, which drew his sister's car ; 

 and so, even if they started together, he was sure 

 to fall steadily behind, little by little, every day, 

 until at the end of four weeks Sol would gain 

 upon him one entire trip. Then, when she 

 passed him in her swift car, he would hide his 

 face in his long cloak because of the dazzling sun- 

 light, and the two would begin the race over 

 again. But it always ended the same way: Sol 

 would make twenty-eight trips to __ Maane's 

 twenty-seven. 



But by and by, when the Asas had been almost 

 forgotten, a wise man came into the world, who 

 spent all his time in looking at things through a 

 glass, and in writing long rows of figures in a 

 little book, and in putting everything at right 

 angles on shelves instead of letting them lie 

 around loose. He looked at the sun-car and the 

 moon-car through his glass, and declared that he 

 saw neither horses nor drivers, nor indeed any 

 wagons, but only the sun and moon. But there 

 is no wonder that he did not see them, for his 

 eyes were not of the right kind, nor his heart 

 either, for that matter. Then he set out to prove 



