A “Fairy flagon,” you should know, is made up of Gum leaves put into
moulds, points up, and pressed into the shape required. To hold the
leaves together, and to make the flagon retain its shape, a kind of
cement is used, made from an extract of black ants’ milk and beeswax.
It is very binding, and in addition, takes on a most beautiful polish,
through which the gum leaves shine as clearly as do fruits or flowers
that are preserved in ice.
Now the waters of the Well have a very singular and happy effect upon
all who drink of them; for though the Prince had not said a word about
it, they contain certain life-giving properties which bring to those
who drink them the most enchanting results. It is because of these
peculiar properties that the Well is a Magic Well; its waters work
wonders in a way that cannot be seen. Thus, shortly after drinking of
them, the Fairies found themselves greatly stimulated and exhilarated
in spirits. But their prime quality lies in their power to rejuvenate
those who partake of them. That is to say they have the effect of
making one young, and strong, and active again, no matter how tired or
worn out one may have been beforehand.
But to resume! After supper—and a very fine one it was, too!—as usual,
they sang their crooning lullaby songs until all except the sentry
guards fell off in sleep.
Next morning, their strength renewed—rejuvenated, in fact—just as the
golden lances of the sun came piercing through the fast dispersing
clouds of night, they woke, ready and eager for any kind of work there
might be to do. And certainly there was no shortage of employment. As
soon as breakfast was over the Surveyors looked out their instruments
and made ready to determine the limits and proportions of the intended
city and grounds. Very clever fellows are the Surveyors. And yet all
their skill is based upon a thorough grasp of a few simple facts. They
know, that just as the alphabet is called the A B C, because in those
letters are contained every line and curve that is necessary to the
formation of any of the other twenty-three letters; so, within the
circle, ◯, the square, ◻, and the triangle, △, are to be found every
line and curve, and every degree of measurement that can possibly be
used in the laying out or building of anything in the world, from the
Pyramids to a Modern Battleship!
Using the Magic Well as a centre from which to start, they first ran a
line two miles due East, and a second one two miles due West.
Returning, they did the like thing two miles North and two miles South.
Then, just as a boy uses a piece of string tied to a stick stuck in the
ground to draw a big ring in which to play marbles, so they, by means
of a large number of pegs, made a circle exactly twelve miles in
circumference, right round the base of the hill. In this way there was
enclosed an area of ground that was precisely four miles across, no
matter from what part of the outer edge the start was made.