"Do you see any green in my eye?" said the Cockatrice.
"I do, indeed!" said Beppo. "I never saw anything so green in all the world."
"That's all right, then!" said the Cockatrice. "Climb up and look in, and you will see what the world was like when I was young."
So Beppo climbed and scrambled, and slipped and clung, till he found himself on the margin of a wonderful green lake, which was but the opening into the whole eye of the Cockatrice.
And as soon as Beppo looked, he had lost his heart for ever to the world he saw there. It was there, quite real before him: a whole world full of living and moving things—the world before the trouble of man came to it.
"I see green hills, and fields, and rocks, and trees," cried Beppo, "and among them a lot of little Cockatrices are playing!"
"They were my brothers and sisters; I remember them," said the Cockatrice. "I have them all in my mind's eye. Call them—perhaps they will come and talk to you; you will find them very nice and friendly."
"They are too far off," said Beppo, "they cannot hear me."
"Ah, yes," murmured the Cockatrice, "memory is a wonderful thing!"
When Beppo came down again he was quite giddy, and lost in wonder and joy over the beautiful green world the Cockatrice had shown him. "I like that better than this!" said he.