Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/150

144 "They do not need kitchens, for they do not cook: but they have chambers for the children and the mothers, halls for the workers, and their houses have several stories, with passages from one story to another in the inside of the hill."

"How do they know how to build it so it will not break down?" asked Willie.

"Indeed, they build well, and when no stronger power breaks down their house it lasts as long as they need it. They make the walls and rafters out of tiny chips, straws, dry leaves, grass and earth. They dampen the earth in their mouths, knead it, and use it as masons do bricks. They like best to build when the mist is falling, for then the ground is just damp enough for their use."

"Who taught these creatures all this?" again asked the little boy.

"God gives these creatures something that we call instinct, by which they know what to do without being taught. Some show so much skill and wisdom in the management of their households and providing for their wants, that it seems like human reason. When you go to school and learn how to use books, you will learn all such things as I have learned them," added the Countess.

While they were thus talking, Grandmother and Barunka came, bringing their aprons full of flowers and their arms full of herbs that they had gathered in the meadow. The children began to tell what they had learned about the ants, and the Countess asked what they were going to do with all those herbs.

"This, dear Countess, is some caraway and some agrimony. The caraway is dried, the seeds used in