through which they were wending was generous and the granaries were
bulging. They were allowed to glean in the fields of maize and to have
a share in the vintage and the songs which rose in the setting sun.
Fair-haired girls held the grapes against their luminous breasts.
Their raised elbows gleamed. Above the blue shadows of the chestnut
trees shooting stars glided peacefully. The velvet of the heather was
growing thicker. The sighing of dresses could be heard in the depth of
the avenues.

They saw the sea before them, hung in space, and the sloping sails,
and white sands flecked by the shadows of tamarisks, strawberry-trees,
and pines. They passed through laughing meadows, where the mountain
torrent, born of the pure whiteness of the snows, had become a brook,
but still glistened, filled with memories of the shimmering antimony
and glaciers.

Even when the hunting-horn sounded Rabbit remained quite without fear
among his companions. They watched over him and he watched over them.
One day a pack of hounds drew near to him, but fled again when they
saw the wolf. Another time a cat crept close to the doves, but took
flight before the three dogs with their spiked collars, and a ferret
who lay in wait for the lamb had to seek a hiding-place from the birds
of prey. Rabbit, himself, frightened away the swallows who attacked
the owl.

* * * * *

Rabbit became specially attached to one of the three dogs with spiked
collars. She was a spaniel, of kind disposition, and compact build.
She had a stubby tail, pendant ears, and twisted paws. She was easy to