So the mouse escaped, but Guido could
not find his cap for some time. Then he went on, and still the ground
sloping sent him down the hill till he came close to the copse.
Some sparrows came out from the copse, and he stopped and saw one of them
perch on a stalk of wheat, with one foot above the other sideways, so
that he could pick at the ear and get the corn. Guido watched the sparrow
clear the ear, then he moved, and the sparrows flew back to the copse,
where they chattered at him for disturbing them. There was a ditch
between the corn and the copse, and a streamlet; he picked up a stone and
threw it in, and the splash frightened a rabbit, who slipped over the
bank and into a hole. The boughs of an oak reached out across to the
corn, and made so pleasant a shade that Guido, who was very hot from
walking in the sun, sat down on the bank of the streamlet with his feet
dangling over it, and watched the floating grass sway slowly as the water
ran. Gently he leaned back till his back rested on the sloping ground--he
raised one knee, and left the other foot over the verge where the tip of
the tallest rushes touched it. Before he had been there a minute he
remembered the secret which a fern had taught him.
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