Page:A Forest Story (1929).djvu/26



Zoom! Squeak! Scrape! Squeal! Under the ferns in the dappled sunlight, the musicians tune their fiddles. The Dandelion lets flutter a shower of feathery bits of down to remind them of the time. Hurry! Be ready, fiddlers. They are coming now; the guests and the relatives, the bride and the groom.

This is the wedding feast of Mouse. Not little Brown Mouse from the field, nor Grey Mouse from the house, but dainty Princess White Mouse who has married White-foot Wood Mouse at sunset. They march under the arch of sword grass and wild rose garlands to the festooned cottage of the happy couple.

Zoom! Squeak! Scrape! Squeal!

Here comes the Drone, the Maestro. How he scolds and coaxes the fiddlers! He looks at the big violas. He looks at the little violins. He smiles and pats his own great cello, and points out the marvelous new peg in it. He raps upon a