For the brown hills had quite disappeared, and in their place a dazzling white country spread around. And a country filled with—could it be? Peggy rubbed her eyes, and stared again. Yes. Filled with snowmen! Snowmen towering up in all directions, one behind the other, hundreds and hundreds of them, and all exactly like the one Mother and Peggy had made in the garden last winter, with coals for eyes, and pipes in their mouths!
“Yes, I thought you’d be surprised!” said the Giant, stopping wearily. “I was. We’ve missed our way somehow, I believe, and it would really have been better if we had gone under the hills after all. This white country gets on my nerves. I must have a rest!”
He propped himself up against one of the snowmen as he spoke, and mopped his face with his red pocket-handkerchief. “Do fly up fairly high and see if there’s any way out of this,” he implored in an exhausted voice. “I’ve been walking in and out between the wretched things for ages. There seems no end to them!”
Peggy fluttered up and looked North, South, East and West, but alas, there was nothing but hosts and hosts of snowmen in all directions.
“I believe it’s a trick of those nasty Pixies!” said the Giant angrily when she returned. “There—look! Wasn’t that one of them?” and he pointed behind her.
Peggy wheeled round, just in time to see a mischievous Pixie face peeping from behind a snowman.
“Catch him!” cried the Giant, making a grab and missing. “Oh, now he’s over there!” as another face peeped at them from quite another direction.
“This is Mazing, this is,” said a tiny, chuckling voice, and a third Pixie appeared round another snowman, and disappeared again just as Peggy thought she had really got him.
“Oh dear!” said the Giant, stopping in dismay. “Don’t you remember you said you wished you knew what Mazing was? I never took in that it was a wish till this moment!”
“Why, so I did!” said Peggy. “Gracious me, what a silly game! and that makes four wishes gone, too. There, now I’ve got him!” and she made a wild dash to the right, but only succeeded in catching a pointed cap, and falling full length in the wet snow.