Page:A child of the Orient (IA childoforient00vakarich).pdf/102

 my bed, put on my slippers, threw over my nighty the pink little wrap with its silk-lined hood, and went out on the balcony outside of my window. From there I slid down one of the columns, and, before I knew it, was on the ground.

Supreme moment of happiness! I was free—free to revel in the wonders of the night, free from vigilance and from orders. Clasping my wrap closely around me, I first went to the pond, and told the frogs that I was up.

"That's right, little girl!" they answered me. "That's right, little girl!" But that was all they had to say to me, so I left them and gave myself up to the deliciousness of being out of bed at an hour when all well-regulated children should be in bed—according to the laws of the elders.

The fireflies laughed and danced with me, twinkling in and out of the darkness. They seemed like thousands of little stars, who, tired of contemplating the world from heights above, like me had escaped vigilance, and, deserting the firmament, had slid down to the earth to play.

What a lot they had to say to me, these cheerful little sparks. On and on we wandered together. They always surrounded me—almost lifting me from the ground; and occasionally I succeeded in catching one and sticking it on my forehead, till I had quite a cluster, so close together that I must have looked like