“Because I can’t,” said the owl, and buried its head under its wing with a groan. “But that is absurd!” cried Zixi, with impatience. The owl had an ear out, and heard her. So it withdrew its head long enough to retort: “I don’t think it’s any more absurd than the longings of some other folks.” “Perhaps you are right,” said the queen, and hung her head as she walked on. By and by she found a ferryman with a boat, and he agreed to row her across the river. In one end of the boat crouched a little girl, the ferryman’s daughter, and she sobbed continually, so that the sound of the child’s grief finally attracted Zixi’s attention. “Why do you sob?” questioned the queen. “Because I want to be a man,” replied the child, trying to stifle her sobs. “Why do you want to be a man?” asked Zixi, curiously. “Because I’m a little girl,” was the reply. This made Zixi angry. “You’re a little fool!” she exclaimed loudly. “There are other fools in the world,” said the child, and renewed her sobs. [Illustration: “‘WHY DO YOU SOB?’ QUESTIONED THE QUEEN.”] Zixi did not reply, but she thought to herself: “We are all alike—the alligator, the owl, the girl, and the powerful Queen of Ix. We long for what we cannot have, yet desire it not so much because it would benefit us, as because it is beyond our reach. If I call the others fools, I must also call myself a fool for wishing to see the reflection of a beautiful girl in my mirror when I know it is impossible. So hereafter I shall strive to be contented with my lot.” This was a wise resolution, and the witch-queen abided by it for many years. She was not very bad, this Zixi; for it must be admitted that few have the courage to acknowledge their faults and strive to correct them, as she did. Chapter XVI. THE PLAIN ABOVE THE CLOUDS. I have already mentioned how high the mountains were between Noland and the land of Ix; but at the north of the city of Nole were mountains much higher—so high, indeed, that they seemed to pierce the clouds, and it was said the moon often stopped on the highest peak to rest. It was not one single slope up from the lowlands; but first there was a high mountain, with a level plain at the top; and then another high mountain, rising from the level and capped with a second plain; and then another mountain, and so on; which made them somewhat resemble a pair of stairs. So that the people of Nole, who looked upon the North Mountains with much pride, used to point them out as “The Giant’s Stairway,” forgetting that no giant was ever big enough to use such an immense flight of stairs.