80 STORIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



And I knew that he was right. What was one 

 drop of water ? Yet the river and the ocean are 

 only a great many such drops. 



"' Brotherhood,' said Heart of Nature, 'that is 

 the password.' 



"After that I understood everything that I 

 heard and saw. At the shallow places the birds 

 bathed and chattered, and I heard a Flycatcher 

 complain that the snakes shed their skins in such 

 thorny places that he could not pull them out for 

 nest-building." 



"Why do snakes shed their skins? and are 

 they not very naked without them?" 



"They shed them when they are shabby and 

 old, just as the birds moult their feathers, only 

 under the old skin is a bright new one, and all 

 they have to do is to crawl out of the old one 

 through the mouth hole, and there they are in 

 a fresh dress, leaving the old rag in the bushes 

 behind them. 



"When I came along between shady banks, 

 I heard a great many complaints from growing 

 things, who wished me to ask justice for them. 

 The Ferns complained because they had no pretty, 

 easy names, such as flowers bear, to keep them in 

 the remembrance of House People." 



"Ferns are only ferns," said Tommy- Anne. 



