She begged the father, since he could not perceive it, to feel the
little snail's shell, and to her great joy and his own, he found that
his wife was right. One day it rained very hard. "Listen!" said the Father Snail; "hear what
a drumming there is on the burdock leaves--rum-dum-dum, rum-dum-dum!" "There are drops, too," said the Mother Snail; "they come trickling down
the stalks. We shall presently find it very wet here. I'm glad we have
such good houses, and that the youngster has his also. There has really
been more done for us than for any other creatures. Every one must see
that we are superior beings. We have houses from our very birth, and the
burdock forest is planted on our account. I should like to know just how
far it reaches, and what there is beyond." "There is nothing better than what we have here," said the Father Snail. "I wish for nothing beyond." "And yet," said the mother, "I should like to be taken to the castle,
and boiled, and laid on a silver dish; that has been the destiny of all
our ancestors, and we may be sure it is something quite out of the
common way." "The castle has perhaps fallen to ruin," said the Father Snail, "or it
may be overgrown with burdock, so that its inmates are unable to come
out. There is no hurry about the matter. You are always in such a
desperate hurry, and the youngster there begins to take after you. He's
been creeping up that stem yonder these three days. It makes me quite
dizzy to look at him." "But don't scold him," said the mother. "He creeps carefully. We old
people have nothing else to live for, and he will be the joy of our old
age. Have you thought how we can manage to find a wife for him? Do you
not think that farther into the forest there may be others of our own
species?" "I dare say there may be black snails," said the old father, "black
snails, without a house at all; and they are vulgar, though they think
so much of themselves. But we can employ the black ants, who run about
so much--hurrying to and fro as if they had all the business of the
world on their hands. They will certainly be able to find a wife for our
young gentleman." "I know the fairest of the fair," said one of the ants; "but I'm afraid
it would not do, for she's a queen." "She's none the worse for that," said both the old snails. "Has she a
house?" "She has a palace," answered the ants; "the most splendid ant castle,
with seven hundred galleries." "Thank you!" said the Mother Snail. "Our boy shall not go to live in an
ant hill. If you know of nothing better, we will employ the white gnats,
who fly both in rain and sunshine and know all the ins and outs of the
whole burdock forest." "We have found a wife for him," said the gnats. "A hundred paces from
here there sits, on a gooseberry bush, a little snail with a house. She
is all alone and is old enough to marry. It is only a hundred human
steps from here." "Then let her come to him," said the old couple. "He has a whole forest
of burdock, while she has only a bush." So they went and brought the little maiden snail. It took eight days to
perform the journey, but that only showed her high breeding, and that
she was of good family. And then the wedding took place. Six glow-worms gave all the light they
could, but in all other respects it was a very quiet affair. The old
people could not bear the fatigue of frolic or festivity. The Mother
Snail made a very touching little speech. The father was too much
overcome to trust himself to say anything. They gave the young couple the entire burdock forest, saying what they
had always said, namely, that it was the finest inheritance in the
world, and that if they led an upright and honorable life, and if their
family should increase, without doubt both themselves and their children
would one day be taken to the manor castle and be boiled black and
served as a fricassee in a silver dish. And after this the old couple crept into their houses and never came out
again, but fell asleep. The young pair now ruled in the forest and had a
numerous family. But when, as time went on, none of them were ever
cooked or served on a silver dish, they concluded that the castle had
fallen to ruin and that the world of human beings had died out; and as
no one contradicted them, they must have been right. And the rain continued to fall upon the burdock leaves solely to
entertain them with its drumming, and the sun shone to light the forest
for their especial benefit, and very happy they were--they and the whole
snail family--inexpressibly happy! [Illustration]




THE GREENIES


A ROSE TREE stood in the window. But a little while ago it had been
green and fresh, and now it looked sickly--it was in poor health, no
doubt. A whole regiment was quartered on it and was eating it up; yet,
notwithstanding this seeming greediness, the regiment was a very decent
and respectable one. It wore bright-green uniforms. I spoke to one of
the "Greenies." He was but three days old, and yet he was already a
grandfather. What do you think he said? It is all true--he spoke of
himself and of the rest of the regiment. Listen! "We are the most wonderful creatures in the world. At a very early age
we are engaged, and immediately we have the wedding. When the cold
weather comes we lay our eggs, but the little ones lie sunny and warm. The wisest of the creatures, the ant,--we have the greatest respect for
him!--understands us well. He appreciates us, you may be sure. He does
not eat us up at once; he takes our eggs, lays them in the family ant
hill on the ground floor--lays them, labeled and numbered, side by side,
layer on layer, so that each day a new one may creep out of the egg. Then he puts us in a stable, pinches our hind legs, and milks us till we
die. He has given us the prettiest of names--'little milch cow.' "All creatures who, like the ant, are gifted with common sense call us
by this pretty name. It is only human beings who do not. They give us
another name, one that we feel to be a great affront--great enough to
embitter our whole life. Could you not write a protest against it for
us? Could you not rouse these human beings to a sense of the wrong they
do us? They look at us so stupidly or, at times, with such envious eyes,
just because we eat a rose leaf, while they themselves eat every created
thing--whatever grows and is green. And oh, they give us the most
humiliating of names! I will not even mention it. Ugh! I feel it to my
very stomach. I cannot even pronounce it--at least not when I have my
uniform on, and that I always wear. "I was born on a rose leaf. I and all the regiment live on the rose
tree. We live off it, in fact. But then it lives again in us, who belong
to the higher order of created beings. "The human beings do not like us. They pursue and murder us with
soapsuds. Oh, it is a horrid drink! I seem to smell it even now. You
cannot think how dreadful it is to be washed when one was not made to be
washed. Men!