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CHAPTER XITI
THE LITTLE ONES
I had been at work but a few moments, when I heard small voices near me, and presently the Little Ones, as I soon found they called themselves, came creeping out from among the tiny trees that like brushwood filled the spaces between the big ones. In a minute there were scores and scores about me. I made signs that the giants had but just left me, and were not far off; but they laughed, and told me the wind was quite clean.
' They are too blind to see us,' they said, and laughed like a multitude of sheep-bells.
' Do you like that rope about your ankles ? ' asked one.
' I want them to think I cannot take it off,' I replied.
' They can scarcely see their own feet! ' he rejoined. ' Walk with short steps and they will think the rope is all right.'
As he spoke, he danced with merriment.
One of the bigger girls got down on her knees to untie the clumsy knot. I smiled, thinking those pretty fingers could do nothing with it, but in a moment it was loose.
They then made me sit down, and fed me with delicious little fruits; after which the smaller of them began to play with me in the wildest fashion, so that |
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