From this time, Piccolissima became one of the happiest little
creatures in the world. Her brother, instead of considering her only
as a toy to play with, began to respect her. She had no more
conversations with the flies, to be sure. Her mind grew, and she
learned that, small as she was, she was superior to the best
informed fly. She studied the habits and doings of the ants, and
learned a great deal about their different tribes and nations.
Sometimes her brother would take his sister's toilet cushion and put
it on the table before him, and seating Piccolissima upon it, say to
her, "Now, Piccola, dear, listen with both of your little ears to my
big words, and I will read some wonderful stories to you." Once he
read Gulliver's Travels to her. "O!" she exclaimed, as he read of
the Lilliputians, "O, good! good! I am a Lilliputian, and you are
all great, big Brobdignagians. Why did you not tell me this before?"
So she began to dance and skip about, like a jack-o'-lantern. Her
brother, who was delighted at her gambols, whistled a tune for her
to dance by. Presently Piccolissima began to sing, with her small,
fine voice, this song, which she made as she danced:--

Merrily, merrily, dance away!
Merrily laugh, and merrily play!
Though I am a tiny thing,
I can dance, and I can sing;
I can hear, and I can see;
I don't care who laughs at me;
I can learn all things to know;
So sing merrily, merrily, O!

The morning was lovely; the blue shadows, extending over the fields,