“Well, the humming-bird told the panther that she wished to have a beautiful dress, as beautiful as the dress of the sun bird, and asked him to tell her where she could get bright colours. Then before the panther answered, she asked him to tell her how the lianas got the red and yellow and purple for their blossoms.”
“This is the most interesting thing I have ever heard and I hope the tale will not be short. Did the panther know?”
“Of course he knew. He told her that the flowers got their colour from the earth and he also told her where there was clay of many colours and where there were gold and silver and rubies. So the humming-bird picked and picked until the panther’s eyes were unsealed and the big fellow gave a roar of gladness. All that day panther and humming-bird worked, bringing coloured clay and coloured sands, and silver and gold, and rubies and opals, and the blue and crimson of sunset and the silver of the moon and the stars, and the tender green of shady forests and the blackness of ebony. Out of all these the humming-bird dressed herself, and for misty-moving wings she took the spun silk of the spider and the soft thread of the sumaha. And that is how the humming-bird got her dress. There now.”
“I am glad to know that, dear humming-bird, and I thank you for telling me.”
“And I, dear flower, thank you for the honey.”
“Good-bye, then, if you must go.”
“Good-bye, Florecilla. . . B-z-z-z-z. H-m-m-m-m-m—mmmmmm.”
