"
Gillibloom tried, because, whatever the Earth-Woman says in the
forest, it has to be done. But he could not do it. And worse than
that, he found he didn't really want to.
"Do you like to have your throat feel all pinched up, as if you
couldn't swallow a drop of honey?" the Earth-Woman asked him.
"No!" screamed Gillibloom. And then he roared louder than ever. You
could have heard him across twenty violets.
"Do you like to have your mouth all salt with tears, and your pretty
tunic wet with them?"
"No! No!" said Gillibloom.
But he kept on roaring.
"There, you see!" said the Earth-Woman. "Now I'll tell you something,
Gillibloom, and you keep it in your mind until you forget it. The more
you cry, the harder it is to stop, and the only way to stop crying is
to smile."
"Cry?" said Gillibloom. "Is this Quite Crying? Isn't it Almost
Crying?"
"That's as may be," said the Earth-Woman wisely. "Now you come in here
with me."
So she carried him into her hut, where it is very dark but light
enough to see to do all sorts of wonderful things, and she ironed out
his forehead and put a nice polish on it, and she opened his eyes and
told them to stay open, and she shut his mouth and told it to stay
shut, and when it had really done it, she stretched it very carefully
indeed, until it was perhaps two cat's hairs wider than it had been
for a long time.
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