When a boy had
given up being human, just to travel around with a few wild geese, they
surely ought to understand that he had no desire to betray them. Then,
too, they ought to understand that when he had renounced so much to
follow them, it was their duty to let him see all the wonders they could
show him.
"I'll have to speak my mind right out to them," thought he. But hour
after hour passed, still he hadn't come round to it. It may sound
remarkable--but the boy had actually acquired a kind of respect for the
old leader-goose. He felt that it was not easy to pit his will against
hers.
On one side of the swampy meadow, where the wild geese fed, there was a
broad stone hedge. Toward evening when the boy finally raised his head,
to speak to Akka, his glance happened to rest on this hedge. He uttered
a little cry of surprise, and all the wild geese instantly looked up,
and stared in the same direction. At first, both the geese and the boy
thought that all the round, gray stones in the hedge had acquired legs,
and were starting on a run; but soon they saw that it was a company of
rats who ran over it. They moved very rapidly, and ran forward, tightly
packed, line upon line, and were so numerous that, for some time, they
covered the entire stone hedge.
The boy had been afraid of rats, even when he was a big, strong human
being.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99