“So when the mother mouse came to her home and saw what had happened she was very much annoyed, saying that the panther was too big and too clumsy and did not look where he was going.”
“Well, Colibrí, she would be annoyed. You know I have often thought how nice it would be if mice and panthers and all creatures did not move about as they do. They run about so and they jump and skip, and it is no wonder that things happen. Suppose trees and flowers and bushes were as restless as animals. Think how it would be with great trees treading on little flowers, and thorn-bushes running about and tearing down the gentle flores del aire and scratching the tender skins of the grapes. Now if I were queen, I would make a law so that all those forest creatures that run on four legs should just stand and grow as we do, and——”
“Please do not interrupt or I may forget the tale.”
“Oh, I beg your pardon. Go on, please.”
“Well, of course the panther told the mother mouse how it had happened and said that he was sorry and that he would be more careful, but she scolded him and kept it in her heart to punish him.”
“But, little Colibrí, if he said that he was sorry, and if it could not be helped, then it seems to me——”
“Really, little flower, you must listen. You have no idea how difficult it is to tell a tale. So please do not interrupt. One day when the panther was asleep the mouse crept up with some gum which she had taken from the tree and sealed up the panther’s eyes. Then she took mud from the laguna and plastered it over the gum, and then more gum and more mud, so that the panther could not tell day from night.”
“Dear me. That was very unkind and very dreadful. I am as sorry for the panther as I am for the mother mouse.”
“Well, anyway, that proves that it was a mouse and a panther and mud, just as I said.”
“But, dear humming-bird, how about the dress of many colours?”