WOODLAND PATHS 



for caricatures of the Puritan conscience, 

 for they were so erect they nearly fell over 

 backward. 



They would not stay in any nest made 

 for them, but preferred to inhabit the 

 earth, usually just round the corner of 

 something, whence they poked weird heads 

 with staring eyes that discountenanced all 

 creatures that they met. The family cat, 

 notoriously fond of chicken, stalked them 

 a bit the first day that they occupied the 

 yard. At the psychological moment, when 

 Felis domesticatus was crouching, green 

 eyed, for a spring, the two gravely rose 

 and faced her. She took one look at 

 those pods of bodies on stilts, those 

 strange heads stretched high above on 

 attenuated necks, and faced the wooden 

 severity of their stare for but a second. 

 Then she gave forth a yowl of terror 



and fled to her favorite refuge beneath 

 248 



