A SIMPLE EXPLANATION 103 
in the same way—all the little daughter birds became 
beautiful too, as well as the little sons. 
But I am afraid the people who explain it all 
in this way must have forgotten how the Birds of 
Paradise, at any rate, used once to live in Paradise, 
where, of course, they were all as beautiful as each 
other, and though their plumage got spoilt when they 
came out of it (beautiful though it seems to us) in 
the way I told you, yet it does seem funny that the 
hens should have had it spoilt so much more than the 
cock birds. But you know it was spoilt by the glory 
which streamed out of the gates of Paradise, and 
which was so bright and burning that it burnt off all 
the most beautiful parts of it, and scorched and 
singed the rest. Now, of course, the nearer any bird 
was to the gate of Paradise when it opened, the worse 
he would have got scorched, and so if the cocks flew 
faster than the hens—and I am sure they did—they 
would have got soonest away, and the hens would 
have suffered most. That explanation seems much 
more simple; but, you see, these c/ever people do not 
believe about the Birds of Paradise having once lived 
in Paradise. They have their own explanation of it 
all (which I have just told you), and they like to 
believe in that. Then which of the two are you to 
believe in? Well, I think the simpler one—which is 
prettier as well—would be the best for you to believe 
