The pin-partridge trembled so violently at this that he fell off the roof altogether, quite forgetting that he could fly. But the moment he touched the ground, he became a full-sized partridge. ‘No, I didn’t,’ he said. ‘There’s that boy somewhere about, but I can’t see him. He got through the blue door to-night.’ David now knew that he was invisible, but though it had always seemed to him that it must be the most delicious thing in the world to be able to be visible or invisible whenever you chose, he found that it was not quite so jolly to have become invisible without choosing, and not to have the slightest idea how to become visible again. It gave him an empty kind of feeling like when he was hungry long before the proper time. ‘The cats saw me,’ he said, joining in, for he knew if he couldn’t be seen, he could be heard. ‘Of course they did,’ said Noah, ‘because they can see in the dark when everything is invisible. That’s why they saw you. You needn’t think that you’re the only thing that is invisible. I suppose you think it’s grand to be invisible.’ ‘When I was a little boy,’ said Ham, ‘I was told that little boys should be seen and not heard. This one is heard and not seen. I call that a very poor imitation of a boy. I dare say he isn’t a real one.’ ‘I’ve been quite ordinary up to now,’ said David. ‘It seems to have come on all of a sudden. And I don’t think it’s at all grand to be invisible. I would be visible this minute if I knew how.’ ‘I want to get down,’ said Mrs. Noah, swaying backwards and forwards because her stand was broken. ‘You’ll get down whether you want to or not, ma,’ said Shem irritably, ‘if you go swaying about like that. Don’t catch hold of me now. I’ve got quite enough to do with keeping my balance myself.’ ‘Why don’t you get down?’ asked David, who wanted to see what would happen next. ‘I haven’t seen the crow fly yet,’ said Noah. ‘We can’t get down till the crow has flown.’ ‘What did the crow do?’ asked David. ‘It didn’t. That’s why we’re still here,’ said Japheth. ‘Some people,’ said Noah, ‘want everything explained to them. When the cock crows it shows it’s morning, and when the crow flies it shows it’s night. We can’t get down until.’ ‘But what would happen if you did get down?’ said David. ‘Nobody knows,’ said Noah. ‘I knew once, and tied a knot in my handkerchief about it, so that I could remember, but the handkerchief went to the wash, and they took out the knot. So I forgot.’ ‘If you tied another knot in another handkerchief, wouldn’t you remember again?’ asked David. ‘No. That would not be the same knot. I should remember something quite different, which I might not like at all. That would never do.’ ‘One, two, three,’ said Mrs. Noah, beating time, and they all began to sing: ‘Never do, never do, Never, never, never do.’