Next Tiny alights on a terrace in a garden, where she sees a pretty white cat. Tiny calls, “Puss, puss!” when immediately out pops from among some cabbages a pert young hare. “Did you call?” he inquires. “You!” says the cat contemptuously, “are you Puss?” “Yes, indeed, I am called Puss by a great many people.” “Why, where is your tail, if you are a cat?” “Tail! pooh! what does a tail matter? Look at my fine long ears!”
“Just like the others,” thinks Tiny, as she flies away; “always quarrelling; and always praising themselves.”
Scene VI.
Here we have an ostrich and a toucan. I think Tiny must have flown a long way to meet with these strange birds: but she finds that they are quarrelling like all the rest. The toucan is mocking the ostrich, because, with all its feathers, it cannot fly; and the ostrich laughs at the toucan for its enormous beak.
“I wish they wouldn’t all find fault with each other so much,” Tiny begins to think; “I am sure the ostrich is very beautiful, and I daresay the toucan has some good qualities, though his nose is rather ridiculous.”
Scene VII.
Then Tiny must have flown to a colder country, for here are a penguin and an eagle. “A nice cool breeze here!” says the penguin to Tiny, as he flaps his little wings, which look like leather. “Don’t waste your time in such company, little girl,” says the eagle; “that half-bird, half-fish is a disgrace to the family of birds, of which I am king.” “I may be humble and ugly,” rejoins the penguin, “but he is a bird of prey, without kindness or pity.”
The eagle looks so fierce at this retort that Tiny thinks it wise to fly away.