hree dogs with their spiked collars, and a ferret
who lay in wait for the lamb had to seek a hiding-place from the birds
of prey. Rabbit, himself, frightened away the swallows who attacked
the owl.

* * * * *

Rabbit became specially attached to one of the three dogs with spiked
collars. She was a spaniel, of kind disposition, and compact build.
She had a stubby tail, pendant ears, and twisted paws. She was easy to
get on with and polite. She had been born in a pig-pen at a cobbler's
who went hunting on Sundays. When her master died, and no one wanted
to give her shelter, she ran about in the fields where she met
Francis.

Rabbit always walked by her side, and when she slept her muzzle lay
upon him and he too fell asleep. All of them always had their noonday
sleep, and under the dull fire of the sun it was filled with dreams.

Then Francis saw again the Paradise from which he had come. It seemed
to him as if he were passing through the great open gate into the
wonderful street on which stood the houses of the Elect. They were low
huts, each like the other, in a luminous shadow which caused tears
of joy to rise in the eyes. From the interior of these huts might be
caught the gleam of a carpenter's plane, a hammer, or a file. The work
that is sublime continues here; for, when God asked those who had come
to him what reward they desired for their work on earth, they always
wished to go on with that which had helped them to gain Heaven.
And then suddenly their humble crafts became filled with a sort of
mystery. Artisans appeared at their thresholds where tables were set
for the evening meal. One heard the cheery burble of celestial wells.
And in the open squares angels that had a semblance to fishing-boats,
bowed down in the blessedness of the twilight.

But the animals in their dreams saw neither the earth nor Paradise as
we know them and see them. They dreamed of endless plains where their
senses became confused. It was like a dense fog in them. To Rabbit the
baying of the hounds became all blended into one thing with the heat
of the sun, sharp detonations, the feeling of wet paws, the vertigo
of flight, with fright, with the smell of the clay, and the sparkle
of the brook, with the waving to and fro of wild carrots and the
crackling of maize, with the moonshine and the joyous emotion of
seeing his mate appearing amid the fragrant meadow-sweet.

Behind their closed eyelids they all sa