given to mankind alone. Ho, ho, ho!” the parrot chuckled, and added his,
“Come now, let us be men.”
“You little grey bird of Denmark,” the canary said to the lark, “have they
made you a prisoner too? Although it must be very cold in your woods, you
have your freedom there. Fly away! They have forgotten to close your cage.
The door of the top is open. Fly! fly!”
Without pausing to think, the clerk did as he was told. In a jiffy he was
out of the cage. But just as he escaped from his prison, the half-open door
leading into the next room began to creak. Stealthily, with green shining
eyes, the house cat pounced in and gave chase to him. The canary fluttered
in his cage. The parrot flapped his wings and called out, “Come now, let us
be men.” The dreadfully frightened clerk flew out of the window and away
over the streets and houses, until at last he had to stop to rest.
That house across the street looked familiar. He flew in through one of its
open windows. As he perched on the table he found that he was in his own
room.
“Come now, let us be men,” he blurted out, in spontaneous mockery of
the parrot. Instantly he resumed the body of the copying clerk, who sat
there, perched on the table.
“How in the name of heaven,” he said, “do I happen to be sleeping here?
And what a disturbing dream I've had-all nonsense from beginning to end.”
VI. THE BEST THAT THE GALOSHES BROUGHT
Early the next morning, before the clerk was out of bed, someone tapped
on his door. In walked his neighbor, a young theological student who lived
on the same floor.
“Lend me your galoshes,” he requested. “It is very wet in the garden, but
the sun is shining so gloriously that I'd like to smoke a pipeful down there.”
He pulled on the galoshes and went out into the garden, where there was
one plum tree and a pear tree. But even a little garden like this one is a
precious thing in Copenhagen.
