Once, in a city long forgotten, some young boys and girls between the ages of five and six were playing make-believe with one another. After some discussion, they decided to play butcher. One girl was to play the butcher, another the cook; a young boy was to be the cook’s assistant, and another young boy was to be the pig. The cook’s assistant was to catch the blood of the pig in a tiny bowl, and this blood would be used to make sausages. As they agreed, the butcher-girl fell on the pig-boy with a little knife, and the assistant cook caught the blood in the bowl. The girl started to carve up the pig-boy’s body but had trouble because her knife was so small.

As it happened, a Man of Words was walking by and saw the children playing. Appalled, and gagging, he grabbed the butcher-girl and took her into the House of Many Men of Words. There they gathered and wrung their hands over the sorry mess, for they could not decide if it had merely been a game gone too far. Then, one Man of Words took a shiny gold coin from his pocket and a blood-red apple from the kitchen and told them that they would test the girl. They would offer her both, and if she took the apple she was to be deemed a child, and let go. If she took the coin, then she was all grown up, hiding in the body of a petite thing, and they would kill her. One man held them both before her, and she studied them with intent. Then, she laughed and grabbed the apple. She took a bite of it, looking them each in the eye as she did, and licked the juice from her lips. She offered the apple back to them with an open palm, and though some were tempted, none dared reach for it. Because they were Men of Their Words, they had to let her go, and off she went, giggling and making merry as only a child can. But each man in that house fell into an uneasy sleep that night, wondering what would have happened had they taken a bite.