The Rat, with fear in his eyes at the mere memory, made answer:
"He struck his match on a little box so that it sprang into flame, and offered it to the Architect through the sugar-canes. The Architect, of course, ran away, and in running he broke his leg."
"But only look at our arms and legs"
"Ah! I'd forgotten that detail," said the Dwarf.
"A detail!" cried several of the Rats. "A detail! But only look at our arms and legs."
"The Architect knew quite well," explained the first Rat, "that if the match fell on the liquid Soy it would become hot immediately and everything would start to grow—and only look at our legs and arms!"
Smaly began to understand why it was that the Confectioner walked about on high pattens, and why the Rats wore boots. He saw that though all these people owed their pleasant life to Soy because it made everything grow without any trouble, yet they feared it, feared it even more than they feared the flies which used to come when they were asleep and eat the sugar of which their faces and hands were composed.
Even more than they feared the Flies