... I will take
charge of that....
THE LIME-TREE (_in a conciliatory tone_)
Come, come.... Is it really necessary to go to such extremities?... They
are very young.... We could quite simply prevent them from doing any harm
by keeping them prisoners in an enclosure which I will undertake to form by
planting myself all around....
THE OAK
Who speaks?... I seem to recognise the honeyed accents of the Lime-tree....
THE FIR-TREE
Yes, it's he....
THE OAK
So there is a renegade among us, as among the Animals?... Hitherto we have
only had to deplore the disloyalty of the Fruit-trees; but they are not
real trees....
THE PIG (_rolling his small eyes gluttonously_)
I think we should first eat the little girl.... She ought to be very
tender....
TYLTYL
What's he saying?... Just wait a bit, you...
THE CAT
I don't know what is the matter with them; but things are beginning to look
badly....
THE OAK
Silence!... What we have to decide is which of us shall have the honour of
striking the first blow, who shall ward off from, our tops the greatest
danger that has threatened us since the birth of Man....
THE FIR-TREE
That honour falls to you, our king and our patriarch.
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