VI.
Everything is blooming in the meadow, the air is full of soft murmurs, and the insects make a musical hum.
At the hunters’ approach the grasshoppers hop, the bees fly off, and thousands of pale-blue or white butterflies seem to come out of the flowers. But they are too small, and there are so many of them that they do not know which to catch. Peacocks are what they want, or emperors.
Minnie finds that there are holes in the ground, hidden under the grass, which make her trip, and there are disagreeable plants growing among the daisies, which sting her legs, and even some that tear little slits in her frock—but when one goes a-hunting one must not be particular; another time she will ask for a pair of gaiters, like Bertie’s, and a very thick frock. Mr. Donkey is very inquisitive.