SUMMER DAYS 



67 



feel pretty sure that you would want to crawl in. 

 Unfortunately for you, you are so big that you 

 would only make a great pathway and spoil it all. 

 If only somebody would teach us both how to 

 change our size whenever we wanted an alteration, 

 we should be much happier. Whenever I was in 

 danger I should just whisper the words of the 

 charm, ' Dumb Crambo Boanerges,' or ' Topeeka 

 Lithyoxylon,' or anything else which sounded nice 

 and mysterious, and then I should instantly be so 

 enormously big that the danger would vanish. 

 How startled a boy would be if he lifted up 

 his stick to hit a rat, and then suddenly found 

 that it was as big as an elephant ! I would give 

 a solemn promise never to hurt any of my enemies 

 if I could only grow enormously big for a moment, 

 just when some terrible danger was hanging over 

 me. Perhaps there might also be another charm, 

 which would enable one to take a different shape 

 as well as enormous size, and then, whenever a 

 savage owl pounced down, he would find suddenly 

 a huge prickly hedgehog instead of a tender rat. 

 And if he was pouncing so terribly fast that he 

 could not stop in time, and pricked himself badly 

 against the spikes, that would be much more his 

 fault than mine, would it not ? I don't think that 



5—2 



