The words he could not
distinguish, but he thought it was just lovely to hear human voices. "I
wonder what they would say if I knocked and begged to be let in,"
thought he.
This was, of course, what he had intended to do all along, but now that
he saw the lighted windows, his fear of the darkness was gone. Instead,
he felt again that shyness which always came over him now when he was
near human beings. "I'll take a look around the town for a while
longer," thought he, "before I ask anyone to take me in."
On one house there was a balcony. And just as the boy walked by, the
doors were thrown open, and a yellow light streamed through the fine,
sheer curtains. Then a pretty young fru came out on the balcony and
leaned over the railing. "It's raining; now we shall soon have spring,"
said she. When the boy saw her he felt a strange anxiety. It was as
though he wanted to weep. For the first time he was a bit uneasy because
he had shut himself out from the human kind.
Shortly after that he walked by a shop. Outside the shop stood a red
corn-drill. He stopped and looked at it; and finally crawled up to the
driver's place, and seated himself. When he had got there, he smacked
with his lips and pretended that he sat and drove. He thought what fun
it would be to be permitted to drive such a pretty machine over a
grainfield.
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