"Your cousin, Garandma iru was a very clever girl, When she was young, wasn't she , Grandpa?" Asked Kusmi.
" Tell me how she managed to cast a spell on you."
"I've always had a great weakness.
Every little thing fills me with wonder. Iru took advantage of this thing."
Grandpa told Kusmi.
" But wasn't Grandma Iru younger than you ?"
"Of course, she was, by a year at least. But she was wise beyond her years. She ruled over me as though I was a baby.
I could only state open mouthed at everything she did."
Grandpa recalled his childhood in a dreamy way.....
" What fun indeed. Iru worked me up into a state with a story about a king's seven-mansioned palace.
I never found out where it was. She alone knew the Secret.
I asked my teacher about it but he only laughed and tweaked my ears."
I would often plead with Iru, " tell me where the palace is."
She would open her eyes wide and tell me that it was right there in the house.
I would gape and say, "In this house? Show me where it is !"
But she always said,"You can't see it unless you know the magic words."
I used to beg her, " Then teach me the magic words, please. I'll give you that seashell which I have."
She would refused, " it is forbidden to tell them to anyone."
"Why, what will happen if you tell me ?" I would ask her.
But she would only gasp,
"Oh, goodness me !"
I never found out what would happen if she told me the magic words but her attitude made me shudder.
One day I decided to follow her to find out about the palace. But she seemed to go there only while I was at school.
I asked her once why she couldn't go to that palace at any other time, but she only said, "Oh, goodness me".
After that I was too scared to ask her any more.
One day, when I had just returned from school, she blurted out, "You won't believe what happened today."
"What!" I asked her, all excited.
And she only replied, "I shall not tell you."
I suppose it was best that way. I never got to know what happened so I could go on dreaming about the king's palace and it's fantastic things.
She would go off to the Hurry - Scurry fields while I was sleeping.
A winged horse grazed in the meadows there and took away anyone who came there, up into the clouds.