SAINT GUIDO. 7 



find his cap for some time. Then he went on, and 

 still the ground sloping sent him down the hill till he 

 came close to the copse. 



Some sparrows came out from the copse, and he 

 stopped and saw one of them perch on a stalk of 

 wheat, with one foot above the other sideways, so that 

 he could pick at the ear and get the corn. Guido 

 watched the sparrow clear the ear, then he moved, 

 and the sparrows flew back to the copse, where 

 they chattered at him for disturbing them. There 

 was a ditch between the corn and the copse, and a 

 streamlet ; he picked up a stone and threw it in, and 

 the splash frightened a rabbit, who slipped over the 

 bank and into a hole. The boughs of an oak reached 

 out across to the corn, and made so pleasant a shade 

 that Guido, who was very hot from walking in the sun, 

 sat down on the bank of the streamlet with his feet 

 dangling over it, and watched the floating grass sway 

 slowly as the water ran. Gently he leaned back till 

 his back rested on the sloping ground he raised one 

 knee, and left the other foot over the verge where the 

 tip of the tallest rushes- touched it. Before he had 

 been there a minute he remembered the secret which 

 a fern had taught him. 



First, if he wanted to know anything, or to hear 

 a story, or what the grass was saying, or the oak- 

 leaves singing, he must be careful not to interfere 

 as he had done just now with the butterfly by trying 

 to catch him. Fortunately, that butterfly was a 

 nice butterfly, and very kindhearted, but sometimes, 

 if you interfered with one thing, it would tell another 

 thing, and they would all know in a moment, and 



