Then the little man handed me the
bundle of dusters, saying, 'I always carry them on my reaping
hook, but I don't think you could manage it properly. You shall
have it if you like.' I wouldn't take it, however, for it looked
dangerous.
"I did the best I could with the dusters, and crawled up to
the top of the moon. But what a grand sight it was! The stars
were all over my head, so bright and so near that I could almost
have laid hold of them. The round ball to which I clung went
bobbing and floating away through the dark blue above and below
and on every side. It was so beautiful that all fear left me,
and I set to work diligently. I cleaned window after window. At
length I came to a very little one, in at which I peeped. There
was the room with the box of bees in it! I laid my ear to the
window, and heard the musical hum quite distinctly. A great
longing to see them came upon me, and I opened the window and
crept in. The little box had a door like a closet. I opened it
-- the tiniest crack -- when out came the light with such a
sting that I closed it again in terror -- not, however, before
three bees had shot out into the room, where they darted about
like flashes of lightning. Terribly frightened, I tried to get
out of the window again, but I could not: there was no way to the
outside of the moon but through the door; and that was in the room where
the lady sat.
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