would know how not to get lost, and how not to collide with either the
sun or the moon. He would have the skill to avoid the shooting-stars
which are as dangerous as stones thrown from a sling. He would find
the way by the heavenly sign-posts on which were marked the number of
miles that had been left behind, as well as the names of the celestial
hamlets.

The regions traversed by Rabbit and his companions were ravishing
and filled them with ecstasy. This was all the more the case because
contrary to man, they had never suspected the beauties of the sky;
they had been able to look only sidewise and not upward, this being
the exclusive right of the king of animals.

So it came that Short-tail, the Wolf, the Ewe, the Lamb, the Birds,
the Sheep-Dogs, the Spaniel, discovered that the sky was as beautiful
as the earth. And all except Rabbit, who was sometimes troubled by
the problems of direction, enjoyed an unalloyed pleasure in this
pilgrimage toward God. In place of the heavenly fields, which only a
short while ago seemed inaccessible above their heads, the earth now
became in its turn slowly inaccessible beneath their feet. And as
they moved further and further away from it, this earth became a new
heavenly canopy for them. The blue of the oceans formed their clouds
of foam, and the candles of the shops sprinkled like stars the expanse
of the night.

Gradually they approached the regions which Francis had promised them.
Already the rose-red clovers of the setting suns and the luminous
fruits of the darkness which were their food grew larger and fuller
and melted in their souls into the sweets of paradise.