So she tried something foolish. "Sammy, find me what fits," she said.

The cat woke, looked around, and went to Che, settling down against the centaur's side. So much for that.

"I think that means I should answer your question," Che said. "What is it?"

"I need to know the Xanth equivalent of the High Ones."

Che looked perplexed, but offered an answer anyway. "The Muses, perhaps."

"Is there a Muse of beauty?"

"They aren't of that type. They are patrons of the arts. But perhaps Erato, the Muse of love poetry, would do."

"Does she get angry with mortal folk?"

"I don't think so. Maybe Melpomene, Muse of tragedy. She has a tragic mask, a club, and a sword."

"Maybe she's the one," Jenny agreed. "Well, one day Melpomene was annoyed, because a woman named Willow had a baby—I mean the stork brought her a baby girl who was so pretty that everyone knew she would grow up to be as beautiful as any Muse. She named the baby Lily, because she was as fair as that flower.

" 'We'll see about that,' Melpomene said. 'Lily shall not see the flower after which she is named. No mortal may look as good as a Muse without suffering tragedy.'

"Willow went out in a field of flowers near the mountain of the Muses, where a flock of birds flew, holding Lily. 'Oh, Muses,' she said, and the tears flowed from her eyes, 'you have given me such a beautiful child, but why have you made her blind?' Then the Muses were sorry, but there was nothing they could do, for once a thing was done it could not be undone.

"Lily grew up to be a fine girl, but she never saw a flower or anything else. She walked out in the field and touched the flowers, including the one for which she was named, but this was not good because flowers could not survive well when they were handled. She began to cry.

" 'Why are you crying?' Willow asked her.

" 'Oh, Mother, you have taught me right from wrong and to appreciate what I have, but how can I appreciate the flowers you speak of so fondly, when my touch hurts them?'

"The flowers listened and were sad. 'She likes us so much,' they said to themselves, 'and she is named for one of us. We must find a way for her to appreciate us without hurting us.'

"They discussed it among themselves, and they asked the Muses to help them; and the Muses remembered that they were at fault and agreed. They could not make Lily see, but they could help the flowers change. They gave the flowers the power to describe themselves in odor.