Then together all the children sang:
“Who cares for work!
Who cares for play!
Don’t disturb me now, I pray;
There is no prettier sight for me
Than when my charming self I see.”
“Croak, croak, croak,” joined in the frogs, jumping in accompaniment to the song.
Kitty was never to forget the sight; the pretty, shining pool surrounded by beautiful flowers; the speckled frogs gazing at themselves affectionately over the edge of the lily leaf; the little girls grimacing, smiling, and singing to themselves so lovingly. It all seemed so droll that she burst out laughing.
Suddenly she stopped, for she heard her laugh taken up by everything around her; up in the trees, down from the sky, all through the reeds and flowers. Everything was laughing with Kitty’s laugh.
She stopped, and still the laugh was going on. Ha!ha!ha! Ho!ho!ho! As if everything had been inwardly laughing until then, but had not known how to express laughter until she gave it a voice.