“It is correct,” said the King, “so far as the numbers and sexes are concerned, though I know not what you mean by ‘right’ and ‘left.’ But I deny that you saw these things. For how could you see the Line, that is to say the inside, of any Man? But you must have heard these things, and then dreamed that you saw them. And let me ask what you mean by those words ‘left’ and ‘right.’ I suppose it is your way of saying Northward and Southward.” “Not so,” replied I; “besides your motion of Northward and Southward, there is another motion which I call from right to left.” _King._ Exhibit to me, if you please, this motion from left to right. _I._ Nay, that I cannot do, unless you could step out of your Line altogether. _King._ Out of my Line? Do you mean out of the World? Out of Space? _I._ Well, yes. Out of _your_ World. Out of _your_ Space. For your Space is not the true Space. True Space is a Plane; but your Space is only a Line. _King._ If you cannot indicate this motion from left to right by yourself moving in it, then I beg you to describe it to me in words. _I._ If you cannot tell your right side from my left, I fear that no words of mine can make my meaning clear to you. But surely you cannot be ignorant of so simple a distinction. _King._ I do not in the least understand you. _I._ Alas! How shall I make it clear? When you move straight on, does it not sometimes occur to you that you _could_ move in some other way, turning your eye round so as to look in the direction towards which your side is now fronting? In other words, instead of always moving in the direction of one of your extremities, do you never feel a desire to move in the direction, so to speak, of your side? _King._ Never. And what do you mean? How can a man’s inside “front” in any direction? Or how can a man move in the direction of his inside? _I._ Well then, since words cannot explain the matter, I will try deeds, and will move gradually out of Lineland in the direction which I desire to indicate to you. At the word I began to move my body out of Lineland. As long as any part of me remained in his dominion and in his view, the King kept exclaiming, “I see you, I see you still; you are not moving.” But when I had at last moved myself out of his Line, he cried in his shrillest voice, “She is vanished; she is dead.” “I am not dead,” replied I; “I am simply out of Lineland, that is to say, out of the Straight Line which you call Space, and in the true Space, where I can see things as they are. And at this moment I can see your Line, or side—or inside as you are pleased to call it; and I can also see the Men and Women on the North and South of you, whom I will now enumerate, describing their order, their size, and the interval between each.” [Illustration: ] When I had done this at great length, I cried triumphantly, “Does this at last convince you?” And, with that, I once more entered Lineland, taking up the same position as before.