flies and the spiders out of the mouths of such as I. For my part,
I should be perfectly satisfied, provided all the birds in the world
were flies and beetles."

The Child changed colour, and his heart was sick and saddened when
he heard their evil tongues. He could not imagine how anybody could
speak ill of the beautiful flowers, or scoff at his beloved birds.
He was waked out of a sweet dream, and the wood seemed to him lonely
and desert, and he was ill at ease. He started up hastily, so that
the Mouse and the Lizard shrank back alarmed, and did not look
around them till they thought themselves safe out of the reach of
the stranger with the large, severe eyes.



CHAPTER VII.



But the Child went away from the place; and as he hung down his head
thoughtfully, he did not observe that he took the wrong path, nor
see how the flowers on either side bowed their heads to welcome him,
nor hear how the old birds from the boughs, and the young from the
nests, cried aloud to him, "God bless thee, our dear little prince!"
And he went on and on, farther and farther, into the deep wood; and
he thought over the foolish and heartless talk of the two selfish
chatterers, and could not understand it. He would fain have
forgotten it, but he could not. And the more he pondered, the more
it seemed to him as if a malicious spider had spun her web around
him, and as if his eyes were weary with trying to look through it.