{"product_id":"2940013775299","title":"The Golden Key","description":"THERE WAS A BOY WHO USED TO SIT IN THE TWILIGHT AND LISTEN TO HIS\u003cbr\u003eGREAT-AUNT'S STORIES. SHE TOLD HIM THAT IF HE COULD REACH THE PLACE\u003cbr\u003eWHERE THE END OF THE RAINBOW STANDS HE WOULD FIND THERE A GOLDEN KEY.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And what is the key for?\" the boy would ask. \"What is it the key of?\u003cbr\u003eWhat will it open?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That nobody knows,\" his aunt would reply. \"He has to find that out.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I suppose, being gold,\" the boy once said, thoughtfully, \"that I could\u003cbr\u003eget a good deal of money for it if I sold it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Better never find it than sell it,\" returned his aunt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd the boy went to bed and dreamed about the golden key.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow all that his great-aunt told the boy about the golden key would have\u003cbr\u003ebeen nonsense, had it not been that their little house stood on the\u003cbr\u003eborders of Fairyland. For it is perfectly well known that out of\u003cbr\u003eFairyland nobody ever can find where the rainbow stands. The creature\u003cbr\u003etakes such good care of its golden key, always flitting from place to\u003cbr\u003eplace, lest any one should find it! But in Fairyland it is quite\u003cbr\u003edifferent. Things that look real in this country look very thin indeed\u003cbr\u003ein Fairyland, while some of the things that here cannot stand still for\u003cbr\u003ea moment, will not move there. So it was not in the least absurd of the\u003cbr\u003eold lady to tell her nephew such things about the golden key.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Did you ever know anybody to find it?\" he asked, one evening.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes. Your father, I believe, found it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And what did he do with it, can you tell me?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He never told me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What was it like?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He never showed it to me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How does a new key come there always?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't know. There it is.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps it is the rainbow's egg.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps it is. You will be a happy boy if you find the nest.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps it comes tumbling down the rainbow from the sky.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps it does.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne evening, in summer, he went into his own room and stood at the\u003cbr\u003elattice-window, and gazed into the forest which fringed the outskirts of\u003cbr\u003eFairyland. It came close up to his great-aunt's garden, and, indeed,\u003cbr\u003esent some straggling trees into it. The forest lay to the east, and the\u003cbr\u003esun, which was setting behind the cottage, looked straight into the dark\u003cbr\u003ewood with his level red eye. The trees were all old, and had few\u003cbr\u003ebranches below, so that the sun could see a great way into the forest\u003cbr\u003eand the boy, being keen-sighted, could see almost as far as the sun. The\u003cbr\u003etrunks stood like rows of red columns in the shine of the red sun, and\u003cbr\u003ehe could see down aisle after aisle in the vanishing distance. And as he\u003cbr\u003egazed into the forest he began to feel as if the trees were all waiting\u003cbr\u003efor him, and had something they could not go on with till he came to\u003cbr\u003ethem. But he was hungry and wanted his supper. So he lingered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuddenly, far among the trees, as far as the sun could shine, he saw a\u003cbr\u003eglorious thing. It was the end of a rainbow, large and brilliant. He\u003cbr\u003ecould count all seven colours, and could see shade after shade beyond\u003cbr\u003ethe violet; while before the red stood a colour more gorgeous and\u003cbr\u003emysterious still. It was a colour he had never seen before. Only the\u003cbr\u003espring of the rainbow-arch was visible. He could see nothing of it above\u003cbr\u003ethe trees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The golden key!\" he said to himself, and darted out of the house, and\u003cbr\u003einto the wood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had not gone far before the sun set. But the rainbow only glowed the\u003cbr\u003ebrighter. For the rainbow of Fairyland is not dependent upon the sun, as\u003cbr\u003eours is. The trees welcomed him. The bushes made way for him. The\u003cbr\u003erainbow grew larger and brighter; and at length he found himself within\u003cbr\u003etwo trees of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a grand sight, burning away there in silence, with its gorgeous,\u003cbr\u003eits lovely, its delicate colours, each distinct, all combining. He could\u003cbr\u003enow see a great deal more of it. It rose high into the blue heavens, but\u003cbr\u003ebent so little that he could not tell how high the crown of the arch\u003cbr\u003emust reach. It was still only a small portion of a huge bow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe stood gazing at it till he forgot himself with delight--even forgot\u003cbr\u003ethe key which he had come to seek. And as he stood it grew more\u003cbr\u003ewonderful still. For in each of the colours, which was as large as the\u003cbr\u003ecolumn of a church, he could faintly see beautiful forms slowly\u003cbr\u003eascending as if by the steps of a winding stair. The forms appeared\u003cbr\u003eirregularly--now one, now many, now several, now none--men and women and\u003cbr\u003echildren--all different, all beautiful.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47161612337392,"sku":"2940013775299","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013775299_p0.jpg?v=1763590068","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013775299","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}