It often happens that we do not see a thing because it is too big.
"Look," said Fancy. "There--to the right! No, further--there, there--the north star! That is her left eye. You can't see her right, because she is bending over towards Orion, the doll which she holds in her lap and caresses."
Walter saw it plainly enough and cried: "Omicron, Omicron!"
"No, no, prince," said the lady of the court, "that will not do. Each must undergo his punishment alone. It's already a great concession that you two are imprisoned in the same universe. Recently, when your little brothers flooded the milky way with sin, they were separated completely."
Walter was sad. How gladly would he have kissed his little sister!--that group of stars nursing the doll.
She looked as if she were reflecting on the possibility of accomplishing the almost impossible.
Walter, taking courage from her hesitation, repeated his request.
"Ah, let me live with my little sister again, even if I have to eat grass or build continents--I will eat and build with pleasure, if I may only be with Omicron."
Probably Fancy was afraid to promise something beyond her power; and she was sorry not to be able to give her promise.
"I will ask," she whispered, "and now----"
Walter rubbed his eyes. There was the bridge and the ditch. He heard the ducks cackling from the distance. He saw his mills again. Yes, yes, there they were. But their name was no longer--what was their name?
The mills were called "Morning Hour" and "Eagle," and they called out just like other sawmills: "Karre, karre, kra, kra----"
Thereupon Walter went home. We have already seen what awaited him there.
The preacher had come and gone. Sentence had been passed and the penalty paid. But Walter was depressed and despondent. Leentje did her best to put some animation into him, but in vain. Perhaps it was because she no longer understood her ward.
Those confidential communications of Walter's were beyond her comprehension; and often she looked at him as if she doubted his sanity. From her meagre weekly allowance she saved a few doits, thinking to gladden Walter's heart with some ginger cakes, which he had always enjoyed. It was no use: Walter's soul had outgrown ginger cakes. This discovery caused Leentje bitter pain.