as Inkslinger has no resources, he will have to return. Sam and Ben recruit cats Moppet and Poppet, and the dog Fido, to aid them in their work ("The single creature lives a partial life"). It is bedtime. Paul introduces a "dream of warning", sung by a quartet of the defeated ("Gold in the North came the blizzard to say"). Inkslinger, equally defeated, returns and accepts the job of book-keeper. Second ballad interlude The Narrator describes how Paul went wife-hunting, found an appropriately sized partner (Carrie), and married her ("The Spring came and the Summer and Fall"). A daughter, Tiny, was born, but her parents' marriage was unhappy, and she and Carrie left home. Some years later, Carrie died, and Paul, before her funeral, promised Tiny that he would be a better father. Scene 2: The camp While Paul is away, there is discontent at the unvarying rations of soup and beans ("Do I look the sort of fellow Whom you might expect to bellow"). Inkslinger tries to persuade Sam and Ben to vary the menu, but they walk away in a huff. The lumberjacks turn on Inkslinger, but are interrupted by the offstage voice of Slim ("In fair days and in foul Round the world and back"). He arrives and describes his attempts to "find himself" by continuous travelling ("I come from open spaces"). It turns out that he can cook flapjacks, cookies, fish, steak, and the loggers are appeased. Paul returns with Tiny. Inkslinger, dispirited, tells Fido the story of his life, which he feels he has wasted ("It was out in the sticks that the fire of my existence began"). The lumberjacks mob Tiny, who is still mourning her mother's death ("Whether the sunshine upon children playing"), but she only has eyes for Slim. Paul wants to know if there were any problems while he was away. Inkslinger tells him that Hel Helson broods too much and keeps bad company, and that some of the men, particularly one called John Shears, are tired of logging and want to take up farming. They part on good terms, and Paul muses on the subject of the Actual and the Possible as the curtain falls. Act 2 Scene 1: A clearing Paul summons the lumberjacks and asks those who would like to be farmers to accompany him to the land of Heart's Desire, where everything is fertile. Shears and the