"I am no Woman," replied the small Line. "I am the Monarch
of the world. But thou, whence intrudest thou into my realm
of Lineland?" Receiving this abrupt reply, I begged pardon
if I had in any way startled or molested his Royal Highness;
and describing myself as a stranger I besought the King to give me
some account of his dominions. But I had the greatest possible
difficulty in obtaining any information on points that really
interested me; for the Monarch could not refrain from constantly
assuming that whatever was familiar to him must also be known to me
and that I was simulating ignorance in jest. However,
by persevering questions I elicited the following facts:
It seemed that this poor ignorant Monarch -- as he called himself --
was persuaded that the Straight Line which he called his Kingdom,
and in which he passed his existence, constituted the whole
of the world, and indeed the whole of Space. Not being able either
to move or to see, save in his Straight Line, he had no conception
of anything out of it. Though he had heard my voice when I first
addressed him, the sounds had come to him in a manner so contrary
to his experience that he had made no answer, "seeing no man",
as he expressed it, "and hearing a voice as it were from
my own intestines.
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