UGLY DUCKLINGS 217 



relieved by a yellow beak and a white, wicked eye ? 

 Who has not laughed at the drooping wings, the 

 ruffled feathers, and the disreputable tail of the birds ? 

 Yet the seven brothers lead happy, contented lives. 

 They have always company, and plenty to occupy 

 their minds. They are numbered among those who 

 despise not small things : no insect is too tiny, no 

 beetle too infinitesimal, no creeping thing too in- 

 significant, to be eaten by these birds, so the little 

 company of friends hops together along the ground 

 from tree to tree, from shrub to shrub, searching every 

 nook and cranny, turning over every fallen leaf in the 

 most methodical way, seizing with alacrity everything 

 it comes across in the shape of food. During the search 

 for food the chattering never ceases. Now and again 

 the birds will take to a tree and hop about its branches, 

 talking louder than ever. In the early morning, before 

 the air has lost its first crispness, they delight to play 

 about the trees, flying in a crowd from one to another. 

 Again, in the evening, just before bedtime, they love 

 to gambol among the branches and jostle one another 

 in the most good-tempered way. 



These birds have adopted the motto of the French 

 Republic, and they practise what they preach. Liberty, 

 equality, and fraternity are theirs. They form a true 

 republic, a successful one because of the smallness of 

 its numbers. What bird is so free as our seven 

 brothers ? They are not hedged in by the conventions 

 of dress. " Eha " says that they remind him of " old 

 Jones, who passes the day in his pyjamas." Is this not 

 the acme of freedom ? They squeak, croak, hop, and 



