"I have found you again!" said the Starling coming down with a swoop and a sharp peck.
Sally slipped into her shell, but this time she was not quite quick enough. The starling had caught one of her long horns, and now flew off with the eye from the end of it.
"It doesn't matter," said Sally. "I can easily grow another."
She crept under a bush and lived there for a time, and when she came out again another eye had grown at the end of the horn.
"I shall go home now," said Sally. She went home and told the others all about her travels. "We must certainly cross to the strawberry garden next year," said the Snails, "but now winter is coming fast—we must bury ourselves."
They crept into the ground, sealed up the mouths of their shells with lime so that no enemies could enter, and went to sleep for the winter.
MILLY MUSHROOM
She was very tiny at first, and quite brown. Her mother laid her gently on the ground and said: "Creep down into the warmth and grow." So Milly crept down into the warmth, and grew into a little white girl as thin as a thread. For a year she stayed under the ground with her brothers and sisters; then they all put on their best velvet hoods and puffed themselves out to go up into the world.
Billy Button sprang up first. He called down to Milly: "Come up, little sister. The sun is shining through a silver mist and everything is glorious."