"SAID A SHEET OF SNOW-WHITE PAPER . . . "
Said a sheet of snow-white
paper, "Pure was I created, and pure will I remain for ever. I would rather
be burnt and turn to white ashes than suffer darkness to touch me or the
unclean to come near me."
The ink-bottle heard what the paper was saying,
and it laughed in its dark heart; but it never dared to approach her. And
the multicoloured pencils heard her also, and they too never came near
her.
And the snow-white sheet of paper did remain
pure and chaste for ever, pure and chaste -- and empty.