Chapter 60
The Neighbouring FamiliesONE would have thought that something important was going
on in the duck-pond, but it was nothing after all. All the ducks
lying quietly on the water or standing on their heads in it—for
they could do that—at once swarm to the sides; the traces of their
feet were seen in the wet earth, and their cackling was heard far
and wide. The water, which a few moments before had been as clear
and smooth as a mirror, became very troubled. Before, every tree,
every neighbouring bush, the old farmhouse with the holes in the
roof and the swallows' nest, and especially the great rose-bush
full of flowers, had been reflected in it. The rose-bush covered
the wall and hung out over the water, in which everything was seen
as if in a picture, except that it all
