"Here plays the grasshoppers' band,
Here for days together shines the sun,
Here the birds wear hats and spurs,
And the worms spectacles and swords.
Here we don't know bricks,
Or wood, or stone, or steel,
Here we eat plates and saucers,
Here we——"
"We know all about that," said Smaly and Redy together.
"What do you know?" asked the Confectioner suspiciously.
"How funny you all are," answered Smaly.
"At least we are not made of grease and suet," retorted the Confectioner in a tone of mingled pride and disgust.
The gardens were arranged after the same principle as the windows in the house of the Historian. They were not really separated by walls; but since one speaks with one's mouth and sees with one's eyes, there was at about the height where the young girls' faces would be a plank of nougat separating the gardens, and since it was certain that sometimes the girls would sit down, there was another plank a little lower.
There were altogether four planks, for as the three girls were of different ages and heights, the planks which would have prevented one girl from seeing her neighbour would not have prevented the next.
How ingenious this was! It was as well thought out as the two openings for the Flying-Fish in the ceiling of the Historian's house, a big one for the big fish, and a smaller one for the smaller fish!
In these gardens the lawns were made of angelica, and the flower-beds of jam tarts, and at the end of each garden there was a little house to sleep in at night, or in the heat of the afternoon.