said little Ellie , at last . `` At first , my dear ; if only they would have behaved like men , and set to work to do what they did not like . But the longer they waited , and behaved like the dumb beasts , who only do what they like , the stupider and clumsier they grew ; till at last they were past all cure , for they had thrown their own wits away . It is such things as this that help to make me so ugly , that I know not when I shall grow fair . '' `` And where are they all now ? '' asked Ellie . `` Exactly where they ought to be , my dear . '' `` Yes ! '' said the fairy , solemnly , half to herself , as she closed the wonderful book . `` Folks say now that I can make beasts into men , by circumstance , and selection , and competition , and so forth . Well , perhaps they are right ; and perhaps , again , they are wrong . That is one of the seven things which I am forbidden to tell , till the coming of the Cocqcigrues ; and , at all events , it is no concern of theirs . Whatever their ancestors were , men they are ; and I advise them to behave as such , and act accordingly . But let them recollect this , that there are two sides to every question , and a downhill as well as an uphill road ; and , if I can turn beasts into men , I can , by the same laws of circumstance , and selection , and competition , turn men into beasts . You were very near being turned into a beast once or twice , little Tom . Indeed , if you had not made up your mind to go on this journey , and see the world , like an Englishman , I am not sure but that you would have ended as an eft in a pond . '' `` Oh , dear me ! '' said Tom ; `` sooner than that , and be all over slime , I 'll go this minute , if it is to the world 's end . '' CHAPTER VII `` And Nature , the old Nurse , took The child upon her knee , Saying , ` Here is a story book Thy father hath written for thee . '' ` Come wander with me , ' she said , ` Into regions yet untrod , And read what is still unread In the Manuscripts of God . '
`` And he wandered away and away With Nature , the dear old Nurse , Who sang to him night and day The rhymes XXXXX the universe . ''
In at by if like of over till upon with