Little Poems in Prose

ness, and that he soon showed an uncontrolla- ble taste for sugar and liqueurs, so much so that one day, having proved to myself that de- spite my numerous warnings he had commit- ted yet another theft of this nature, I threat- ened to send him back to his parents. Then I went out, and my business kept me for a fairly long time abroad. What were not my horror and amazement when, returning to my house, the first object which caught my sight was my good little friend, my life’s merry companion, hanging from the panel of the wardrobe! He feet almost touched the floor; a chair which he had doubt- less kicked away was overturned beside him; his head was convulsively crooked over one shoulder; his blood-suffused face, and his eyes, wide open, with affrightening fixity, made me think at the first moment that he was alive. To take him down was not so easy a task as you might think; he was already quite stiff, and I had an inexplicable repugnance to let him fall roughly to the ground. I was obliged to hold him up entirely with one arm, and to cut the cord with my free hand; but when that was done, all was not done; the little monster had employed a very thin string, which had cut deeply into his flesh, and now in order to free