* * * * *

ALICE. The next part is going to be all in dumb-show, because it's in the
fifteenth century, and that's how they used to play things in the fifteenth
century, when they played heaps of Harlequinades ... and Uncle and I and
the actors are nothing if not correct.

UNCLE EDWARD. True.

ALICE. But first we are going to skip an awful lot, all the part about the
Early Ages, and the Middle Ages and all about how the gods gradually became
actors...

UNCLE EDWARD. Better tell them.

ALICE. Well, it's rather difficult to understand. But you know if you stop
believing in a thing, such as fairies, or that you like chocolate, or that
your Uncle's fond of you ... after a bit it somehow isn't there any longer.
That's what nearly happened to the gods. But Mercury knew that if people
won't believe a thing when you say it's real, they'll just as good as
believe it and understand it a great deal better when it only seems
make-believe. And that's Art. And as the easiest art in the world is the
art of acting ... I hope they didn't hear [She wags back her little head to
the proscenium.] ... the gods became actors.

UNCLE EDWARD. Now you get back to the story. It's all they [He wags his big
head at the audience.] care about.

ALICE. Yes. Momus helped Mercury find Psyche, and they all had a tremendous