fruits I had never seen before. I hesitated to eat them; but
argued that, if I could live on the air of Fairy Land, I could
live on its food also. I found my reasoning correct, and the
result was better than I had hoped; for it not only satisfied my
hunger, but operated in such a way upon my senses that I was
brought into far more complete relationship with the things
around me. The human forms appeared much more dense and defined;
more tangibly visible, if I may say so. I seemed to know better
which direction to choose when any doubt arose. I began to feel
in some degree what the birds meant in their songs, though I
could not express it in words, any more than you can some
landscapes. At times, to my surprise, I found myself listening
attentively, and as if it were no unusual thing with me, to a
conversation between two squirrels or monkeys. The subjects were
not very interesting, except as associated with the individual
life and necessities of the little creatures: where the best nuts
were to be found in the neighbourhood, and who could crack them
best, or who had most laid up for the winter, and such like; only
they never said where the store was. There was no great
difference in kind between their talk and our ordinary human
conversation. Some of the creatures I never heard speak at all,
and believe they never do so, except under the impulse of some
great excitement. The mice talked; but the hedgehogs seemed very
phlegmatic; and though I met a couple of moles above ground
several times, they never said a word to each other in my
hearing. There were no wild beasts in the forest; at least, I
did not see one larger than a wild cat. There were plenty of
snakes, however, and I do not think they were all harmless; but
none ever bit me.