"Shake yourself once—shake yourself twice—shake yourself three times," he said. "Perhaps I had better crack it three times." And three times he cracked it as loud as ever he could. After he had done it he stood quite still and listened.
He listened and listened, and the deep forest seemed so still that he could hear himself breathe. He listened and listened again, and it seemed so still that he felt as if he could hear himself think. Then he listened again, and he heard a faint, faint rustle. It
sounded far away and he did not know where it came from. But presently he knew it was coming nearer. Yes, it was coming nearer and nearer and it seemed to be coming from the right side and from the left and from before and behind him, and it grew louder and louder until it sounded like scampering and like shuffling and like jumping and like little trotting hoofs. And in about three minutes two little lions jumped over the bushes and two little tigers followed them and two little leopards after them, and two little bears came shuffling through the hole at the end of the
tunnel, and two tiny hippopotamuses and two rhinoceroses, and two lovely elephants who marched into the middle of the ring and threw up their trunks and trumpeted; and last of all four splendid little horses, one snow white and one jet black and two with beautiful brown spots on them, leaped over the hedge and made a bow to Barty, bending their heads and scraping with their feet, and wheeled about and began to gallop round and round the ring as fast as ever they could, just as if they were at a real circus.