For goodness sake don't let anyone hear you! It is a very powerful charm, and might—if a wicked magician were anywhere near at hand—lift your house up into the air and pop it down into a sandy desert, five thousand miles away!
CHAPTER XIX
Princess Fortunata
GEORGE never was able to remember clearly what happened in the magician's castle. He used afterward to tell the story in bits, and Mother put all the bits together, little by little, just as one sews a counterpane, until there was a whole story. How long he was there, whether he felt afraid, whether it was only a dream, whether it was all magic—who knows?—and, after all, what does it matter?
He first remembers that he was going upstairs. Not ordinary stairs, you know, like those in your house. No; these stairs were quite different. They were moving all the time. As fast as he mounted one step, two and even three steps moved up, so that he was always farther and farther away from the top. He was very puzzled for some time to know what to do. So at last he stopped and repeated the magic charm. Then the steps began to move in the opposite direction.