t you and you shall sing with us."

"Listen to them," said Pensive; "they sing so sweetly!" But Fido would
not stop; his blood seemed on fire, and he barked so furiously that
Graceful forgot the grasshoppers to follow his importunate companion.

At evening Graceful met the honey-bee loaded with booty. "Where are
you going?" said he.

"I am returning home," said the bee; "I shall not quit my hive."

"What!" rejoined Graceful; "industrious as you are, will you do like
the grasshoppers and renounce your share in immortality?"

"Your castle is too far off," returned the bee. "I have not your
ambition. My daily labor suffices for me; I care nothing for your
travels; to me work is life."

Graceful was a little moved at losing so many of his fellow-travelers
on the first day; but when he thought with what ease he had
accomplished the first day's journey his heart was filled with joy. He
caressed Fido, caught the flies which Pensive took from his hand, and
slept full of hope, dreaming of his grandmother and the two fairies.

III

The next morning, at daybreak, Pensive called her young master.

"Let us go," said she; "the tide is already rising on the shore, the
birds are singing, the bees are humming, and the flowers are opening
in the sun. Let us go; it is time."

"Wait a moment," said Fido. "The day's journey is not long; before
noon we shall be in sight of the temples of Paestum, where we are to
stop for the night."

"The ants are already on the way," returned Pensive; "the road is
harder than yesterday, and the weather more uncertain. Let us go."

Graceful had seen his grandmother smiling on him in his dreams, and he
set out on his way with even greater ardor than the day before. The
morning was glorious; on the right the blue waves broke with a gentle
murmur on the strand; on the left, in the distance, the mountains were
tinged with a roseate hue; the plain was covered with tall grass
sprinkled with flowers; the road was lined with aloes, jujubes, and
acanthuses, and before them lay a cloudless horizon. Graceful,
ravished with hope and pleasure, fancied himself already at the end of
his journey. Fido bounded over the fields and chased the frightened
partridges; Pensive soared in the air and sported with the light. All
at once Graceful saw a beautiful doe in the midst of the reeds,
looking at him with languishing eyes as if she were calling him. He
went toward her; she bounded forward, but only a little way.