It was morning, and the sun shone as brightly as it had every day since they came to Merryland; yet the stillness of the Seventh Valley was so intense that the children became sober the moment they entered it, and even the smile upon the little Queen's wax face looked strained and out of place. "The people here are either asleep, like the dolls, or run down, like the animals," said Dot, sinking her voice to a whisper. "There are no people," replied the Queen. "Then what is the Valley for?" asked the girl. "Wait a moment and you will see," was the answer. The boat now drew near the shore, but the banks of the river were so high and steep that they could see nothing above them, and Dot thought at first they would be unable to land. Presently, however, they reached a small place where the bank sloped gently down to the water, and here the Queen stopped the boat and asked the children to step out. "Now follow me," said Her Majesty, when they had all landed. So they walked up the sloping bank and found themselves upon a big, circular plain as flat as a platter, which was thickly covered with thousands and thousands of pins. There were no trees at all, but lying scattered upon the ground were heaps and stacks of the most curious things. Nearest to Dot was a great pyramid of thimbles, of all sizes and made of many different materials. Further on were piles of buttons, of all shapes and colors imaginable, and there were also vast collections of hairpins, rings, and many sorts of jewelry. Tot noticed at his side a mammoth heap of lead pencils, some short and stubby and worn, and others long and almost new. "What does it all mean?" asked Dot, wonderingly, after she had gazed about her. "It is the Valley of Lost Things," answered the Queen. "Oh!" said Dot. "Oh!" echoed Tot. And again they began looking with wide-open eyes. "It is rather dangerous to walk on the pins," said the Queen; "so we must choose some overshoes from this pile and put them on our feet. There are so many pins lost that they cover the entire Valley, and sometimes the points turn up and are liable to stick into your feet." The pile of overshoes was quite near them, so they hunted through it until they found the right sizes. Of course they could not get mates, but that did not matter so much, if the soles were but thick enough to keep the pins from sticking through. When at last their feet were clad in lost overshoes they started to walk through the Valley, and Tot was surprised to see so many heaps of caps and coats that had been worn by boys. "Where do they all come from?" he asked. "Well," replied the Queen, "it seems boys in the big outside world seldom hang up their caps and coats; so they are easily lost. Perhaps if they knew they would get to this Valley, and could never be found again, boys would be more careful." "Would they?" asked Tot. "I suppose so. Here is a big pile of pennies. I expect most of those were lost by children, too."