“But they built new ones, very quickly. It doesn’t take long to build a house like a bird-cage. They drove the loaded ox-carts only a little way down the slope of the mountain; and before you could think, there was a new village just like the old, and everything was just as it was before. The brown babies and the spotted pigs ran and tumbled about, and the women went right on grinding corn to make more and more flat cakes; but they didn’t do much housework or sewing, and everybody slept a good deal in the midday heat; then when the cool evening came they gathered together to visit comfortably, while the children played about in the moonlight.” “Like us?” asked the Kitten. “Like us,” said the Princess. “Only you aren’t playing about; you are listening to more story.” “Oh, is it more?” asked Pat. “A tiny bit,” said the Princess. And the Others wriggled down into their places to listen quite differently from the way they listened when it was conversation. She began to speak in a still voice:— “So it was one night when the full, round moon shone, silver-bright above the treetops. One of the women sat a little apart, and watched it soaring among the stars. And as she looked, it seemed to her it was not quite round; a tiny slice was gone from one edge. “‘See the moon!’ she called to the others, pointing upward. “They gathered near; and as they watched it, the dark shadow crept forward, across the face of the moon. “‘What is it?’ asked the children. “‘I know not,’ said the old grandmother. ‘It comes so at times; but never have I seen it like this. Before, it has covered the whole moon, or gone over one edge—like a great shadow. But this is round, like a dark ball, and small. See, the moon shows around it.’ “It was as she said: a thin thread of light, like a silver ring, almost surrounded the dark something that came between their eyes and the moon. “‘It is just like the Bee Baby!’ said one of the children. ‘Don’t you remember how round his little head was?’ “‘I wonder what became of him,’ said another. “‘Perhaps he’s there—in the sky,’ said a third. “But the grandmother said: ‘You are foolish children. He is dead. Xyntli’s snakes could tell—’ “Wise children know when to stop arguing with older people about things that only children understand. So they said no more to the grandmother, but drew away, and talked and whispered to each other—while the small round shadow passed on, across the bright lantern of the moon, and left it clear once more.” [Illustration: THE SMALL ROUND SHADOW PASSED ON ACROSS THE BRIGHT LANTERN OF THE MOON ] “But it was truly the Bee Baby,” said Pat. “And now they could know what became of him.” “What did he do to the moon?” asked the Kitten, because she didn’t exactly understand.