166 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



suade me that this Indian story is true. Was it 

 not Charles V. who was wont to say of our detested 

 language that one should " use English in speak- 

 ing to geese " ? "en ingles a los gansos." But 

 what if " los gansos " will not listen ? 



But the scorn of geese has not much effect on 

 a wielder of the dredger. 



Down in that grass is hidden a white cat. 

 She is out entomologizing, too, doubtless, and 

 might impart some valuable ideas to a searcher 

 after insects, if she would. But cats are ever 

 averse to giving other people light. The feline 

 race are as stubborn now as they were in the days 

 when poor Tasso, lacking a candle, begged his cat 

 that she would lend him the light of her eyes at 

 night that he might see to write his verses. 



" Non avendo candele per iscrivere i suoi versi ! " Tasso. 



Freya, the old German divinity of beauty, was 

 said to be drawn in her car by cats. I am afraid 

 that the lady did not travel very fast. Perhaps 

 she preferred a slow gait and chose her coursers 

 in order that people might have time to observe 

 the loveliness of her countenance as she passed. 



But woe to the cats when the belief in fair Freya 



