When the prince saw the clockwork girl, he was dazzled. Brighter and brighter she shone, faster and faster she spun, higher and higher she leaped. She never stopped, she never grew tired, she never complained. Because the craftsmen had done a cunning, clever thing when they made the clockwork girl. They had whispered a secret in her clockwork ear, and it had been caught in the whirr and turn of her clockwork mind. You’re not real, that whisper said. But you can be. If you dance well enough, smile brightly enough, make them love you enough, then you’ll be a real girl, and then they’ll love you even more.