[Illustration]
After this they came to a shore where there were no less than sixty-five
great red parrots with blue tails, sitting on a rail all of a row, and all
fast asleep. And I am sorry to say that the Pussy-Cat and the
Quangle-Wangle crept softly, and bit off the tail-feathers of all the
sixty-five parrots; for which Violet reproved them both severely.
[Illustration]
Notwithstanding which, she proceeded to insert all the feathers--two
hundred and sixty in number--in her bonnet; thereby causing it to have a
lovely and glittering appearance, highly prepossessing and efficacious.
[Illustration]
The next thing that happened to them was in a narrow part of the sea, which
was so entirely full of fishes that the boat could go on no farther: so
they remained there about six weeks, till they had eaten nearly all the
fishes, which were soles, and all ready-cooked, and covered with
shrimp-sauce, so that there was no trouble whatever. And as the few fishes
who remained uneaten complained of the cold, as well as of the difficulty
they had in getting any sleep on account of the extreme noise made by the
arctic bears and the tropical turnspits, which frequented the neighborhood
in great numbers, Violet most amiably knitted a small woollen frock for
several of the fishes, and Slingsby administered some opium-drops to them;
through which kindness they became quite warm, and slept soundly.
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