To the wood fled the shadows, like scared black ghosts:
"If we stay, we shall all be missed from our posts!"
Said the wind, with a voice that had changed its cheer,
"I was just going there when you brought me here!"
"That's where I live," said the sack-backed squirrel,
And he turned his sack with a swing and a swirl.
Said the gold weather-cock, "I'm the churchwarden!"
Said the mole, "I live in the parson's garden!"
Said they all, "If that's where you want us to steer for,
What on earth or in air did you bring us here for?"
"You are none the worse!" said Boy. "If you won't
Do as I tell you, why, then, don't;
"I'll leave you behind, and go home without you;
And it's time I did: I begin to doubt you!"
He jumped to his feet. The snake rose on his tail,
And hissed three times, a hiss full of bale,
And shot out his tongue at Boy Blue to scare him,
And stared at him, out of his courage to stare him.
"You ugly snake," Little Boy Blue said,
"Get out of my way, or I'll break your head!"