See, here are some splendid ones; they came from the left-hand corner,
where there was a burial last year.'

As she spoke, she gave the goat a bunch of scarlet flowers, which the
animal ate from her hand. When there was nothing left in her grasp
but the stalks, she pushed these between its teeth. Behind her, in the
meanwhile, the fowls were desperately pecking away at her petticoats.
She threw them some wild chicory and dandelions which she had gathered
amongst the old slabs that were ranged alongside the church walls.
It was particularly over the dandelions that the fowls quarrelled, so
voraciously indeed, with such scratchings and flapping of wings,
that the other fowls in the yard heard them. And then came a general
invasion. The big yellow cock, Alexander, was the first to appear;
having seized a dandelion and torn it in halves, without attempting to
eat it, he called to the hens who were still outside to come and peck.
Then a white hen strutted in, then a black one, and then a whole crowd
of hens, who hustled one another, and trod on one another's tails, and
ended by forming a wild flood of feathers. Behind the fowls came the
pigeons, and the ducks, and the geese, and, last of all, the turkeys.
Desiree laughed at seeing herself thus surrounded by this noisy,
squabbling mob.

'This is what always happens,' said she, 'every time that I bring any
green stuff from the graveyard. They nearly kill each other to get at
it; they must find it very nice.'

Then she made a fight to keep a few handfuls of the leaves from the
greedy beaks which rose all round her, saying that something must really
be saved for the rabbits. She would surely get angry with them if
they went on like that, and give them nothing but dry bread in future.
However, she was obliged to give way. The geese tugged at her apron
so violently that she was almost pulled down upon her knees; the ducks
gobbled away at her ankles; two of the pigeons flew upon her head, and
some of the fowls fluttered about her shoulders. It was the ferocity of
creatures who smell flesh: the fat plantains, the crimson poppies,
the milky dandelions, in which remained some of the life of the dead.
Desiree laughed loudly, and felt that she was on the point of slipping
down, and letting go of her last two handfuls, when the fowls were
panic-stricken by a terrible grunting.

'Ah! it's you, my fatty,' she exclaimed, quite delighted; 'eat them up,
and set me at liberty.'

The pig