The Boy made answer that he had set forth [p 142] />]to chase a woodchuck, and that having failed to catch it he had no better plan than to return home.
At the word “home” the Knight put on a melancholy smile, and cutting a reed at the river edge he fashioned it into a pipe and began to play. A wonderful tune it was. Tom the Piper’s Son knew the way of it, and to the same swinging melody the Pied Piper footed the streets of Hamelin town; for the burden of the tune was “Over the Hills and Far Away,” and the Boy’s feet stirred at the catch of it.
“That,” said the Knight, “is the tune I have marched to for many a year, and a pretty chase it has led me.” He put down the pipe. “Knocking about aimlessly does very well for an old man, but youth should have a definite goal.”
The Boy did not agree with this. With that magic melody marching in his head it was hey for the hills and the westering sun, and the pleasant road to Anywhere.
“What lies yonder?” he queried, pointing to a deep notch in the skyline.
“The Kingdom of Rainbow’s End,” replied the Knight. “It is an agreeable territory, and you
would do very well to journey thither. The King of the country is no longer young, and as he has nothing to say about affairs of state, or anything else for that matter, he spends his time tramping [p 143] />]about from place to place, in much the same fashion as myself.”
“And who governs while he is away?”
“She!” said the Knight solemnly—“She That Bosses Everybody!”