donkey stopped kicking the metal
sheet and turned its head to look with surprise at the shaggy man. He
switched the next donkey, and made him stop, and then the next, so that
gradually the rattling of heels ceased and the awful noise subsided.
The donkeys stood in a group and eyed the strangers with fear and
trembling.

"What do you mean by making such a racket?" asked the shaggy man,
sternly.

"We were scaring away the foxes," said one of the donkeys, meekly.
"Usually they run fast enough when they hear the noise, which makes
them afraid."

"There are no foxes here," said the shaggy man.

"I beg to differ with you. There's one, anyhow," replied the donkey,
sitting upright on its haunches and waving a hoof toward Button-Bright.
"We saw him coming and thought the whole army of foxes was marching to
attack us."

"Button-Bright isn't a fox," explained the shaggy man. "He's only
wearing a fox head for a time, until he can get his own head back."

"Oh, I see," remarked the donkey, waving its left ear reflectively.
"I'm sorry we made such a mistake, and had all our work and worry for
nothing."

The other donkeys by this time were sitting up and examining the
strangers with big, glassy eyes. They made a queer picture, indeed;
for they wore wide, white collars around their necks and the collars
had many scallops and points. The gentlemen-donkeys wore high pointed
caps set between their great ears, and the lady-donkeys wore sunbonnets
with holes cut in the top for the ears to stick through. But they had
no other clothing except their hairy skins, although many wore gold and
silver bangles on their front wrists and bands of different metals on
their rear ankles. When they were kicking they had braced themselves
with their front legs, but now they all stood or sat upright on their
hind legs and used the front ones as arms. Having no fingers or hands
the beasts were rather clumsy, as you may guess; but Dorothy was
surprised to observe how many things they could do with their stiff,
heavy hoofs.

Some of the donkeys were white, some were brown, or gray, or black, or
spotted; but their hair was sleek and smooth and their broad collars
and caps gave them a neat, if whimsical, appearance.

"This is a nice way to welcome visitors, I must say!" remarked the
shaggy man, in a reproachful tone.

"Oh, we did not mean to be impolite," replied a grey donkey which had
not spoken before. "But you were not expected, nor did