The Giant Sorcerer

The Extraordinary Adventures of Raphael and Cassandra
The Giant Sorcerer
THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF RAPHAEL AND CASSANDRA:
by WILLIAM WHITMAN 3 RD
PICTURES by FRANK BOYD
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY WILLIAM WHITMAN, 3RD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
TO WILLIAM WHITMAN WILLIAM WHITMAN, Jr. AND WILLIAM WHITMAN, 4 TH
The Giant Sorcerer
Raphael and Cassandra lived with their Aunt Mary in a white house which was tucked away from the road in a group of five elm trees. Behind the house was a white barn with a green door, and beside the barn to the west lay the orchard enclosed by a gray stone wall.
Often Raphael would lean out of the nursery window and wonder what lay beyond the wooded hill that sheltered the little farm from the north wind. There must be, he thought, great cities and seas and mountains. And animals like the tigers and giraffes which chased each other round his bedroom wall paper. Some day he would take Cassie and run away and visit these places. They would see the whole world for themselves.
One night when Raphael went to bed, he did not fall asleep. Instead he lay and watched the moonlight on the window sill. Across the room he could see the white outline of Cassandra’s bed, and Cassie a motionless white mound asleep in it. To-morrow, he thought, sleepily, I must build a house for the robins. Habakkuk needs a bath and a new collar. Why do dogs hate baths? Why do I hate to have my face washed? Everything Aunt Mary called good was hateful.