Beyond the palings of the park
A Hare had made her form,
Beneath a drooping fern, that made
A shelter snug and warm.
She slept until the daylight came,
And all thinks were awake,
And then the Hare, with noiseless steps,
Crept softly from the brake.
She stroked her whiskers with her paws,
Looked timidly around
With open eyes and ears erect
That caught the smallest sound.
The Field-Mouse rustled in the grass,
The Squirrel in the trees,
But Puss was not at all afraid
Of common sounds like these.
She frisked and gambolled with delight,
And cropped a leaf or two
Of clover and of tender grass,
That glistened in the dew.
What was it, then, that made her start,
And run away so fast?
She heard the distant sound of hounds,
She heard the huntsman's blast.
Tally-ho!-hoy tally-ho!
The hounds are in full cry;
Ehew! ehew--in scarlet coats
The men are sweeping by.
So off she set with a spring and a bound,
Over the meadows and open ground,
Faster than hunter and faster than hound
And on--and on--till she lost the sound,
And away went the little Hare.