Recollections of Childhood 



watery caverns prolonged by gloomy corri- 

 dors. On the threshold of these fastnesses 

 shimmers a glint of sunshine, cut into ovals by 

 the leafy sieve above. 



This is the haunt of the red-necktied Min- 

 nows. Come along very gently, lie flat on the 

 ground and look. What pretty little fish they 

 are, with their scarlet throats! Clustering 

 side by side, with their heads turned against 

 the stream, they puff their cheeks out and in, 

 rinsing their mouths incessantly. To keep 

 their stationary position in the running water, 

 they need naught but a slight quiver of their 

 tail and of the fin on their back. A leaf falls 

 from the tree. Whoosh ! The whole troop 

 has disappeared. 



On the other side of the brook is a spinney 

 of beeches, with smooth, straight trunks, like 

 pillars. In their majestic, shady branches sit 

 chattering Crows, drawing from their wings 

 old feathers replaced by new. The ground is 

 padded with moss. At one's first step on the 

 downy carpet, the eye is caught by a mush- 

 room, not yet full-spread and looking like an 

 egg dropped there by some vagrant Hen. It 

 is the first that I have picked, the first that 

 have I turned round and round in my fingers, 

 enquiring into its structure with that vague 

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