Saint Guido 



not hear him. All the time Guido was descending the 

 slope, for little feet always go down the hill as water 

 does, and when he looked back he found that he had 

 left the fir-trees so far behind he was in the middle of 

 the field. If any one had looked they could hardly 

 have seen him, and if he had taken his cap off they 

 could not have done so because the yellow curls would 

 be so much the same colour as the yellow corn. He 

 stooped to see how nicely he could hide himself, then 

 he knelt, and in a minute sat down, so that the wheat 

 rose up high above him. 



Another humble-bee went over along the tips of the 

 wheat burr-rr as he passed; then a scarlet fly, and 

 next a bright yellow wasp who was telling a friend fly- 

 ing behind him that he knew where there was such a 

 capital piece of wood to bite up into tiny pieces and 

 make into paper for the nest in the thatch, but his 

 friend wanted to go to the house because there was a 

 pear quite ripe there on the wall. Next came a moth, 

 and after the moth a golden fly, and three gnats, and 

 a mouse ran along the dry ground with a curious 

 sniffling rustle close to Guido. A shrill cry came 

 down out of the air, and looking up he saw two swifts 

 turning circles, and as they passed each other they 

 shrieked their voices were so shrill they shrieked. 

 They were only saying that in a month their little 

 swifts in the slates would be able to fly. While he 

 sat so quiet on the ground and hidden by the wheat, 

 he heard a cuckoo such a long way off it sounded like 

 a watch when it is covered up. " Cuckoo " did not 

 come full and distinct it was such a tiny little 

 " cuckoo " caught in the hollow of Guido 's ear. The 

 cuckoo must have been a mile away. 



Suddenly he thought something went over, and 

 yet he did not see it perhaps it was the shadow 



9 



