'Then it all depends on me?' said Calladon.
'If harm comes, you will have no right to blame her,' the Master answered; 'but if good comes, you will have no right to take the credit to yourself.'
'Well,' said Calladon, after thinking awhile, 'the safest thing will be not to think of myself at all.'
'There is one thing more,' said the Master, before taking leave of him. 'You will find, hanging round Callia's neck (Callia is the name of your playmate), a little mirror, set in a frame of precious stones. This mirror will always show you an image of yourself, not as you think yourself to be, but as you really are. If you trust to what the mirror tells you, you will not know trouble; but if you disregard it, you will be in danger. The mirror is the only thing that will always tell you the truth.'
'I will always believe it,' said Calladon; and then the Master bade him good night, and Calladon fell asleep.
The next morning, when Calladon woke up, the first thing he saw was a lovely little girl slumbering beside him.
For a moment he was greatly astonished, for he had forgotten that the Master had gone, and that he had promised him a companion. But presently the memory of the day before came back to him, and he recollected that henceforth he was to take care of himself. The thought made him feel quite brave and manly; and with such a beautiful playmate as this to keep him company, he felt sure that he would be the happiest boy in the world. And as he wanted his happiness, and hers, to begin as soon as possible, he bent over and kissed her on the lips.
She opened a pair of lovely blue eyes, and yawned, and said--
'Where am I? Oh! Calladon, is that you? How handsome you look, and how good you are!'
'If I am Callia, you must be Calladon!' replied she, laughing. 'Who else could you be?'
'Now that I look in your eyes, it seems as if I must have always known you!' said Calladon.
'And I know you the same way,' said Callia.
'What a funny question! as if I had ever been anywhere else!'
'It is very strange, however,' he said; 'for though I can remember living here for a long time and not seeing you, still I cannot imagine your ever having been away from me. We seem always to have been together.'