each wing. It was like being buried in a down bed. But the owl did not
like anything between his sides and his wings, so he opened his wings
again, and the children made haste to get out. Tricksey-Wee immediately
went in front of the bird, and looking up into his huge face, which was as
round as the eyes of the giantess's spectacles, and much bigger, dropped a
pretty courtesy, and said:

"'Please, Mr. Owl, I want to whisper to you.'

"'Very well, small child,' answered the owl, looking important, and
stooping his ear towards her. 'What is it?'

"'Please tell me where the eagle lives that sits on the giant's heart.'

"'Oh, you naughty child! That's a secret. For shame!'

"And with a great hiss that terrified them, the owl flew into the tree.
All birds are fond of secrets; but not many of them can keep them so well
as the owl.

"So the children went on because they did not know what else to do. They
found the way very rough and difficult, the tree was so full of humps and
hollows. Now and then they plashed into a pool of rain; now and then they
came upon twigs growing out of the trunk where they had no business, and
they were as large as full-grown poplars. Sometimes they came upon great
cushions of soft moss, and on one of them they lay down and rested. But
they had not lain long before they spied a large nightingale sitting on a
branch, with its bright eyes looking up at the moon. In a moment more he
began to sing, and the birds about him began to reply, but in a very
different tone from that in which they had replied to the owl. Oh, the