Christmas In Camelot

To their surprise, Jack and Annie find themselves in a green meadow filled with sunlight and colorful flowers. The children see three horses grazing. The Otherworld is much warmer than the world they just left, so they remove the knight’s heavy cloak. At Annie’s request, Jack reads the first rhyme aloud: “Beyond the iron gate / The Keepers of the Cauldron wait” (53). Annie thinks that the Keepers might be the guards they snuck past, but Jack points out that the riddle says the Keepers are beyond the gate rather than in front of it. The children hear music coming from over a hill. Annie hopes that the Keepers are making the joyful sound and wants to hurry to meet them. However, Jack advises them to approach with caution, so they cover themselves with the cloak of invisibility.

When they reach the crest of the hill, Jack and Annie look down into a misty glade filled with musicians and hundreds of people dancing in a great circle. The brightly clothed revelers look similar to humans with the notable exceptions of “glittering gold skin and wings that shimmered in the mist like spun silver” (56). Jack and Annie are moved by the merrymakers’ happiness and beauty and believe they are trustworthy.