d rat and his wife had upon the
subject, and sometimes they bore on their faces certain marks which
looked as if they had not kept to words only.

'Reach up to the stars is _my_ motto,' cried the lady one day, when
she was in a greater passion than usual. 'My daughter's beauty places
her higher than anything upon earth,' she cried; 'and I am certainly
not going to accept a son-in-law who is beneath her.'

'Better offer her in marriage to the sun,' answered her husband
impatiently. 'As far as I know there is nothing greater than he.'

'Well, I _was_ thinking of it,' replied the wife, 'and as you are of
the same mind, we will pay him a visit to-morrow.'

So the next morning, the two rats, having spent hours in making
themselves smart, set out to see the sun, leading their daughter
between them.

The journey took some time, but at length they came to the golden
palace where the sun lived.

'Noble king,' began the mother, 'behold our daughter! She is so
beautiful that she is above everything in the whole world. Naturally,
we wish for a son-in-law who, on his side, is greater than all.
Therefore we have come to you.'

'I feel very much flattered,' replied the sun, who was so busy that he
had not the least wish to marry anybody. 'You do me great honour by
your proposal. Only, in one point you are mistaken, and it would be
wrong of me to take advantage of your ignorance. There _is_ something
greater than I am, and that is the cloud. Look!' And as he spoke a
cloud spread itself over the sun's face, blotting out his rays.

'Oh, well, we will speak to the cloud,' said the mother. And turning
to the cloud she repeated her proposal.

'Indeed I am unworthy of anything so charming,' answered the cloud;
'but you make a mistake again in what you say. There is one thing that
is even more powerful than I, and that is the wind. Ah, here he comes,
you can see for yourself.'

And she _did_ see, for catching up the cloud as he passed, he threw it
on the other side of the sky. Then, tumbling father, mother and
daughter down to the earth again, he paused for a moment beside them,
his foot on an old wall.

When she had recovered her breath, the mother began her little speech
once more.

'The wall is the proper husband for your daughter,' answered the wind,
whose home consisted of a cave, which he only visited when he was not
rushing about elsewhere; 'you can see for yourself that he is greater
than I, for he has power to stop me