But the fairies laugh at us. They know how to go as deep into the
earth as they choose, and so any fairy who chooses can give away gold
all his life, and still have more of it in his dust-bin all the time
than all the kings in the world have in their treasuries. And the
other fairies don't call him rich.
But now we will go back to the rath. Of course it was all under the
ground, so that there was no daylight. At the time we are talking
about, there would not have been any anyway, for it was night. The
place was lighted up with thousands of diamonds and rubies and
emeralds, which were set all over the ceiling and shone like lamps.
Now I won't call you ignorant just because you say that you don't
understand how diamonds could light up anything, for I don't
understand it myself. Let us talk about it together and try to decide.
Suppose you try the experiment. Some night, after dark, take all the
diamonds you have--every one of them--and carry them into a dark room
and spread them out, and see if they light up the room at all.
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