Part 13 (2/2)

Shrug.

”When is the last time you disagreed with something the boys from the village said or did?”

Shrug.

”Children!” the third raven exclaimed, exasperated now, ”You are con-fused. Totally, utterly con-fused. As long as you are, you will never find what you seek. Even though it's right here.”

Jack scrunched up his face and looked all around him.

Jill looked down at herself and then back up the ravens.

”When you do what you want, not what you wish . . .” said the first raven.

”When you no longer seek your reflection in others' eyes . . .” said the second.

”When you see yourselves face to face . . .” said the third.

”Then,” the ravens intoned in unison, ”you will have found what you truly seek.”

Jack and Jill glanced at each other.

Jill said, ”Do you know what they're talking about?”

”No idea,” Jack replied.

They turned to ask for further explanation, but the three black forms were already whirling high into the air. The two children, and the frog, watched as the ravens shrank and shrank against the immense gray sky, until, finally, three black specks disappeared into the clouds.

”That was weird,” said Jill.

”Yeah,” said Jack.

After a moment, the frog asked, ”What should we do now?”

Jill said, ”I don't know, but I am thirsting to death.”

Jack agreed. ”And I'm about to die of starve.”

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Goblin Market Once upon a time, a boy and a girl and a frog stood at the peak of a mountain, looking out over a great valley. Two broad roads wound from the distance into the bowl of the valley, forming a crossroads right at its center. All around the crossroads, and spreading out over what must have been a hundred acres, was something that hit the two children like a punch to all their senses at once. If you can imagine what a punch to your senses might feel like.

Once they got over the shock of it, they recognized it for what it was. It was a market. The most fantastic market that has ever been. Fragrances rose to their nostrils and beckoned them. Sweet music floated on the air and called to them. Bright flags and fabrics flapped gently in the suddenly warm wind.

Jack and Jill threw themselves down the scree slope, slipping and laughing and sliding on their bottoms, until they reached the foot of the mountain. They began to cross the flat floor of the valley. Soon they came to a stone buried in the earth. Inscribed upon the stone were words. They read: Come in, come in, we'll make you a buyer.

Jack and Jill, not knowing what to make of it, walked on. After a few yards they came to another stone. This one said: We have everything anyone's ever desired.

They looked up at the market. It seemed bigger than it had just a moment ago. It smelled better, too.

Ten feet on, they came to another stone. It read: You'll feel like you're floating higher and higher.

The market looked even bigger now. They walked on and came to another stone.

When you finally get what you've always desired, *

They glanced up again, and the market had burgeoned out to the horizon, its poles and flags piercing the sky. Soon, they came to yet another stone: Your life seems to sink into deepening mire- Jack and Jill were pretty sure they knew what ”mire” was going to rhyme with. Sure enough, the next stone said, Why do you let it? Take what you desire!

They weren't far from the edge of the market now. It thrummed before them like the great ocean itself, beckoning them, calling them.

They plunged in.

Jack and Jill found themselves in the midst of the most magnificent market you can possibly imagine.

Go ahead, try to imagine the most magnificent market you possibly can.

Have you?

All right. Not good enough. Not even close.

First of all, was the market you were imagining filled with goblins?

Oh, it was?

Okay.

But did it have stalls selling gemstones and gold ingots the size of your head?

Did it have stacks of coins, bronze and silver and gold, crazily stretching far above the merchant men?

Were there carpets that levitated, tapestries that danced, and silks that appeared and disappeared depending on the angle of the light?

Was there food of every shape and size and smell and taste and color, from b.u.t.tery star-shaped cakes to spits of meat that dripped golden oil?

Was there a mechanical menagerie, where tigers and peac.o.c.ks and crocodiles, all made from gears and pistons but covered in real fur or feathers or skin moved around and growled and squawked and grunted?

Did the market you imagined have all that?

It did?

Oh.

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