have trusted him. He took me in his hand, certainly, but he
popped me into a cage, a treadmill. That's a horrible engine, in which
you go round and round without getting any farther; and people laugh
at you into the bargain.

"The gaoler's granddaughter was a charming little thing, with a mass
of curly hair that shone like gold, and such merry eyes, and such a
smiling mouth!

"'You poor little mouse,' she said, as she peeped into my ugly cage;
and she drew out the iron rod, and forth I jumped, to the window
board, and from thence to the roof spout. Free! free! I thought only
of that, and not of the goal of my journey.

"It was dark, and night was coming on. I took up my quarters in an old
tower, where dwelt a watchman and an owl. That is a creature like a
cat, who has the great failing that she eats mice. But one may be
mistaken, and so was I, for this was a very respectable, well-educated
old owl: she knew more than the watchman, and as much as I. The young
owls were always making a racket; but 'go and make soup on a sausage
peg' were the hardest words she could prevail on herself to utter, she
was so fondly attached to her family. Her conduct inspired me with so
much confidence, that from the crack in which I was crouching I called
out 'peep!' to her. This confidence of mine pleased her hugely, and
she assured me I should be under her protection, and that no creature
should be allowed to do me wrong; she would reserve me for herself,
for the winter, when there would be short commons.

"She was in every respect a clever woman, and explained to me how the
watchman could only 'whoop' with the horn that hung at his side,
adding, 'He is terribly conceited about it, and imagines he's an owl
in the tower. Wants to do great things, but is very small--soup on a
sausage-peg!' I begged the owl to give me the recipe for this soup,
and then she explained the matter to me.

"'Soup on a sausage-peg,' she said, 'was only a human proverb, and was
to be understood thus: Each thinks his own way the best, but the whole
signifies nothing.'

"'Nothing!'" I exclaimed. "I was quite struck. Truth is not always
agreeable, but truth is above everything; and that's what the old owl
said. I now thought about it, and readily perceived that if I brought
what was _above everything_ I brought something far beyond soup on a
sausage-peg. So I hastened away, that I might get home in time, and
bring the highest and best, that is above everything-