Then he said, "Now how did you all get in here I should like to know; I have not opened the door to any one this morning."
"I had a key," answered Ellen, "and it fitted the door, so this lad unlocked it. We didn't know there was any one here to open it for us."
"Yes, I am the keeper of the gate, but I don't open for every one that knocks. But how did you find your way to the door, in the first place?"
"I came on this gander; it's Mother Goose's gander, you know."
"Oh, then, that is all right. But how about this lad? Did he come on the gander too?"
"No, I came on the pig," answered the boy, speaking for himself.
"I don't know that pig. Where did you get it?"
The lad told him. The gate-keeper shook his head. "It isn't really your pig, you know. You ought to have made it out of nothing. But did you come across the desert?"
"Yes."