The high-sounding words rolled out from that fish’s mouth as if he actually thought he understood them.
Silence reigned for a few minutes, deep and intense, at last broken by the white violet:
“We never could have all those, for we don’t know anything about them. And who could talk about such things? None of us.”
Silence again. They were all thinking earnestly.
“I don t believe it. Not one word,” chattered a saucy squirrel. “That’s a fish story. As if you could get on dry land and go to lectures.”
“I DON’T BELIEVE IT,” CHATTERED A SAUCY SQUIRREL.
“Oh! very well, you needn’t believe it if you don’t want to,” answered the fish in a hurt tone, “but I heard a man on board the steamer read the programme, and those are the very words he read.”
“If we only had a dictionary,” again sighed the rose.