“The people of Nineveh. I saw them—they were little square bags; it was more than three thousand years ago.”
Nurse looked up with a startled expression. “Saw the people of Nineveh! three thousand years ago! Oh, Miss Leila! speak to me again; what are you talking of? Do you feel any thing particular? what is the matter with you?”
Leila burst into a fit of laughter. “Why should I feel any thing particular because I saw the people of Nineveh and they had bags? I saw them on the bas reliefs.”
“Bas leaf!” Nurse repeated, still more frightened. “Oh, Amy! she is not speaking English! What has come over the dear child?”
Leila struggled hard to regain her composure, for she saw her good old nurse was really getting seriously alarmed. “Nurse,” she said, “don’t be frightened; I know quite well what I am saying. I saw the figures of the people of Nineveh, carved on stones, at the British Museum. You know papa took me there, and he told me these stones had lain in the earth more than three thousand years. You know Nineveh was overthrown. Do you remember the prophecy in the Bible? it says, ‘Nineveh is laid waste, who will bemoan her?’ And it was laid waste—it was overthrown—they are digging it up again now.”
“Well, Miss Leila, I may not be a good judge of such matters, but I think they had better let that alone, and not be bringing their evil deeds to light again. You know the Bible also says,—‘Woe to the bloody city, it is full of lies and robbery;’ and we are told to flee from it.”
“Then I am afraid you will not like to go there and see those wonderful things, and I asked papa if you might take Amy there.”
“No, Miss Leila, I would rather not; and I can’t help thinking that the less she knows of the people of Nineveh the better; she can learn no good lesson from them.”
“But, Nurse, there are a great many other things to be seen at the Museum besides—I am sure you would like to see the wild beasts and the birds. Oh! the birds are so beautiful; how Amy would admire the little humming-birds—they are scarcely bigger than the wild bees we had in the island; they have such lovely feathers, purple, and green, and scarlet, and all beautiful bright colours. Papa says that when they are flitting about amongst the flowers, they are quite splendid and dazzling to the eye; and they shoot those dear little birds with little guns loaded with water; the water does not injure their feathers by wounding them, it only frightens them, and then they fall down and die. There were no humming-birds in the island. I wish there had been—I would not have shot them, even with water, but I would have tried to catch them in some way without hurting them, and would have tamed them as I did my other birds; I do hope you will go to the Museum, Nurse, and take Amy, she will be so surprised, for I don’t think there is a bird in the whole world that is not there; and I am sure you would like to see the owls, for you like wise birds, and they look so wise; there were large owls, and little owls, and every kind, and one little owl near the corner of the glass case had such a pretty face. Then there were beautiful pheasants—and the argus-pheasant with its thousand eyes; oh! you must go; Amy, would not you like it so much?”
“Yes, Miss Leila, I would like it; but a bird with a thousand eyes, I think it would frighten me.”