PICCOLETTA'S ADVENTURES. 369 



and when a little recovered from fatigue, and the injuries she 

 had received in her expedition, she gratified their curiosity by 

 the following relation : 



"You may remember, my dear friends," said she, how I 

 got up by sunrise the day before yesterday and went out by 

 myself into the country. You know, too, that I never, on my 

 own account, had any more fears about those terrible pitfalls, 

 than if such things were still, as they used to be, quite un- 

 known; but, somehow, on that morning, as soon as I got 

 beyond the shadow of our city walls, my heart seemed to sink 

 within me, and I should have returned directly, only was 

 ashamed. Instead, however, of going on steadily as usual, I 

 every now and then climbed to the top of some rock or emi_ 

 nence, to obtain an extensive view, and wherever I saw before 

 me a dark roundish shadow, there I fancied a pitfall opened, 

 and took a round-about way to avoid it. This tired me not a 

 little, but I was determined to proceed as far as I had intended; 

 that was, to the clump of elder-trees where some of our black 

 cattle have been lately at pasture, and from whence I have 

 often brought fresh supplies of honied milk. 



" Judge, however, of my disappointment, when, after so 

 much toil to reach them, I found the elders all cut down (by 

 the hands, doubtless, of those two-legged giants who do more 

 mischief in our beautiful world than all the other creatures put 

 together), and nothing left of those useful animals I had come 

 to seek, except a few trampled remains which it made my heart 

 ache to look upon. It was too late to go further, but not bear- 

 ing to return as I went, I resolved to take quite a new beat 

 home, in hopes either of meeting with another herd of our 

 milch-kine, or of finding some of that sweet vegetable food 

 which serves us at once for milk and bread. I was intent, eyes 

 and mind, on this search, and had forgot nearly all about the 

 pitfalls, when all on a sudden, I found myself in the midst of 

 the most delicious perfume not of flowers only, but of the very 

 thing I was seeking and saw, to my delight, that I was 



