The Phantom Tollbooth. Norton Juster
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first I did my best to make sure that only the most proper and fitting words were used. Everything was said clearly and simply and no words were wasted. I had signs posted all over the palace and market place which said:
“But power corrupts, and soon I grew miserly and chose fewer and fewer words, trying to keep as many as possible for myself. I had new signs posted which said:
“Soon sales began to fall off in the market. The people were afraid to buy as many words as before, and hard times came to the kingdom. But still I grew more and more miserly. Soon there were so few words chosen that hardly anything could be said, and even casual conversation became difficult. Again I had new signs posted, which said:
“And finally, I had even these replaced by ones which read simply:
“All talk stopped. No words were sold, the market place closed down, and the people grew poor and disconsolate. When the king saw what had happened, he became furious and had me cast into this dungeon where you see me now, an older and wiser woman.
“That was all many years ago,” she continued; “but they never appointed a new Which, and that explains why today people use as many words as they can and think themselves very wise for doing so. For always remember that while it is wrong to use too few, it is often far worse to use too many.”
When she had finished she sighed deeply, patted Milo gently on the shoulder, and began knitting once again.
“And have you been down here ever since then?” asked Milo sympathetically.
“Yes,” she said sadly. “Most people have forgotten me entirely, or remember me wrongly as a witch, not a Which. But it matters not, it matters not,” she went on unhappily, “for they are equally frightened of both.”
“I don’t think you’re frightening,” said Milo, and Tock wagged his tail in agreement.
“I thank you very much,” said Faintly Macabre. “You may call me Aunt Faintly. Here, have a punctuation mark.” And she held out a box of sugar-coated question marks, full stops, commas, and exclamation marks. “That’s all I get to eat now.”
“Well, when I get out of here, I’m going to help you,” Milo declared forcefully.
“That’s very nice of you,” she replied, “but the only thing that can help me is the return of Rhyme and Reason.”
“The return of what?” asked Milo.
“Rhyme and Reason,” she repeated. “But that’s another long story, and you may not want to hear it.”
“We would like to very much,” barked Tock.
“We really would,” agreed Milo, and as the Which rocked slowly back and forth, she told them this story.
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