320 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



creatures all talk to the boy, which makes 

 going into the fields and woods a much more 

 delightful thing than it is to other boys, to 

 whom they will not address one single word. 

 There is a wicked weasel, for instance, caught 

 in a gin, who tells such abominable lies as one 

 may expect from a weasel. There is also a fable 

 about a magpie and a jay, which fails, somehow, 

 to arrest the reader. But when you have got 

 through the business with the creatures I do 

 not care in the least for them unless Bevis is 

 with them you presently arrive at a most 

 delightful chapter where Bevis is instructed by 

 the wind. It is such a wise, wise wind, it 

 knows so much. If Bevis will only re- 

 member the half of what the wind has taught 

 him! 



" ' Bevis, my love, if you want to know all 

 about the sun, and the stars, and everything, 

 make haste and come to me, and I will tell 

 you, dear. In the morning, dear, get up as 

 quick as you can, and drink me as I come 

 down from the hill. In the day go up on the 

 hill, dear, and drink me again, and stay there 



