He looked about him and rubbed his eyes, for he could not believe that he was really there. The first thing that he noticed was that the sun, instead of being in the western sky as it had been on the other side of the tree, appeared in the east, so that it was now morning in this land, instead of evening. He gazed about him. Everything was marvellously bright and fresh and beautiful. Then he noticed how clearly he could see. All things were more distinct, more clearly outlined, than he had ever known them to be before. “Where am I?” he thought to himself.
Then a voice within him seemed to ask: “Why did you come through the door? Let us go back.”
“Go back!” cried David. “Well, I guess not! This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen: I’m going on.”
“No!” said the Voice. “Come back; I want to go back.”
“Why do you want to go back?” asked David.
“Because I’m afraid,” answered the Voice.
“Afraid! afraid of what?” said David.
“I do not know of what,” answered the Voice. “I’m just afraid—afraid of everything here. The light, for instance—I’m afraid of that. It is too bright, and it hurts.”
David knew that this Voice which he had heard was nothing but the voice of the coward within himself, although he talked aloud to it just as if it were a real person.
“Well,” said David, “walk behind me, then; I will shield you from the light as much as I can. But, for my part, that is the very thing that I most love. Only think how the Blue Bird will look in this light, when we see him again! It is worth staying here just for that alone.”