“WHY, I THOUGHT YOU WERE A WAGON,” HE SAID, “BUT WHERE ARE YOUR HORTHETH?”
“Sure enough, it did begin to curve up just there; and Major lifted one foot—and put it down, heavily; then he swung the other around wildly—and they all crowded near, and said: ‘There! It’s stopping. It can’t run up-hill.’ And the next minute Major sat down with a hard thump, not very far from the edge of the Zodiac. And if you don’t believe he was a tired old Bear, you try it yourself!”
The Others giggled; but they believed it without interrupting. And the Princess went on: “When I told you about the old man in the Zodiac, I didn’t tell you this: besides his watering-pot, he has a great reputation for giving wise advice. So when the Star People are in any difficulty they go and consult Aquarius. Or they would go; but when he once begins to talk he goes on forever; and they are so tired with it, and it is so impossible to stop him without being rude, that they are rather more likely to say to some one else, ‘Why don’t you go and ask Aquarius?’ than they are to go themselves.
“When Major sat down hard, he was not far from Aquarius’ House, and the old man came to its limit to see what was going on, but the Star People pretended they didn’t see him, because they didn’t want him to begin talking.
“Cassiopeia was the person who discovered that they were out of one trouble only to be in another. They had stepped aside a little, to be out of Major’s hearing, and everybody—except Cassiopeia—was saying how good it was he had stopped. Draco just observed complacently, for the third time: ‘I don’t know how I happened to think of it. It theemed to come to me,’ when Cassiopeia’s voice broke in on them, very cold and depressing: ‘It’s a pity it came so soon. Why didn’t you turn him around first?’
“‘Turn him around?’ said Cepheus. ‘What for?’
“‘What is the first Rule of the Sky?’ asked Cassiopeia, and they all recited in unison:—
“‘A Place for Everything; and Everything in its Place.’
“‘Yes,’ said Cassiopeia. ‘There he is,’ and she pointed to Major, just sitting exactly as he dropped, ‘and there’s his place!’ and she waved her arm toward the North. ‘How are you going to get him there?’