Touchmenot, indeed! What fool told you that? Well, I don't care, they may call me so if they please. Ha! ha! no bad name neither! Touch me not, I advise you, or you will smart for it! So that's the name they give me, is it? Oh, with all my heart! And what else have you heard about me, Mr. Greateyes?
BRUSH.
Oh, nothing very particular. Yes, now I recollect, I have heard that you have got a very odd way of defending yourself, by rolling up into a ball, when you see any animal coming that you think is an enemy.
TOUCHMENOT.
That I think is an enemy? I consider all animals my enemies. Except my own family, I don't believe I have a friend in the world. My comfort is, that I am very well able to take care of myself; and yet I can neither fly like a bird, nor run like a hare, nor swim like a fish, nor leap like yourself. No, I can do none of these; but I can roll up, and so set all my enemies at defiance; and I had half a mind to have done so when I first saw you, but it was hardly worth while, for you are much smaller than I am, and, besides, to tell you the truth, you look rather like a good-tempered fellow. Now what other tales have you heard about my doings?
BRUSH.
Why if you wont be angry, I was going to say, though I didn't believe it at the time, but I have heard it said that you are rather fond of milk, and don't mind sucking the farmers' cows sometimes.
TOUCHMENOT.
So you have heard that ridiculous story, have you? Well, you say you don't believe it, so I sha'n't take the trouble to prove what a monstrous fib it is. Now then, I'll tell you what I have heard about you. I have heard that you are rather fond of nuts, and that, not content with eating as many as you can possibly cram, you are such a glutton that you carry a great many home with you, on purpose to stuff yourself with in the winter.
BRUSH.