108 MEMOIR OF ALFRED SMEE. [CHAP. X. 



the birch-trees, and on the deep-coloured branches of the ever green Scotch 

 pines. She cried very much when she thoiight of her past happiness and 

 present misery, till she was quite exhausted and fell sound asleep. 



A fairy here suddenly appears before her, coming " with a 

 rush of wind." After a long colloquy between the fairy and the 

 widow, 



the lovely fairy, who was quite distressed at such grievous misery, gazed 

 with the tenderest compassion upon the face of the sorrow-stricken 

 widow. In a tone of authority, the fairy said, with earnestness but 

 sweetness : " Homeward go, Mary ! Babbits shall no more trouble thee ! 

 This day I have full power over the rabbits in this valley." And then 

 with a clear, shrill, musical voice the fairy cried, " Change, bunnies, change." 

 The sound in the dead stillness echoed through the woods from rock to 

 rock, and from tree to tree, " Change, change, change," and died away 

 in the extreme distance, echoing " Change, change, change," till the last 

 murmuring was scarcely audible to the most delicate ear. In an instant 

 the snow was torn up like a whirlwind, and, with a rushing sound, the 

 fairy passed away in the cloud of snow the wind had raised 



On her way home the widow saw, to her surprise, 



a large black cat rush out of a rabbit hole and prowl about, seeking 

 for food ; presently she saw many other cats, some black, some black and 

 white, but there was not a tabby amongst them. The words " Change, 

 bunnies, change," came to her mind, and she perceived that the rabbits 

 had been changed, and that their tails had grown long, and their ears had 

 become short, and that it was perfectly clear the rabbits had been changed 

 into cats. 



As she slowly continued her journey homeward, she noticed the rooks 

 wheeling in circles to the south, and then fly away in the direction of the 

 next valley. After that, a long zigzag line appeared in the sky, which she 

 knew to be a flock of wild ducks. Later an immense pack of grouse, 

 screaming wildly, flew out of the valley towards the highest hill of the east. 

 Then the linnets and warbling tribes of small birds, which she could not 

 exactly distinguish, formed a great flock, and darted about like flies in the 

 air, and then flew out of sight. Even the owls, although it was only two 

 o'clock in the afternoon, were on the wing, screaming in B flat. The 

 herons, with their immense wings, flew away to distant places. 



The widow sat to rest herself on a large granite stone by the side of 

 the river, and she was surprised to see that the salmon were jiimping over 

 the stones and swimming down to the sea as fast as they could. She then 

 plainly understood that all living creatures were leaving the valley for fear 

 of the number of black and black and white cats which were prowling 

 about. 



The quaint and cunning description of the " Kabhit Protec- 

 tors " here follows, and should be read to be appreciated, but is 

 too long for these pages. 



A stone, long since decayed, was placed over the grave, with the 

 inscription : " To the Perpetual Memory of the thirty-four Babbit Pro- 



