He had hardly completed this second leap when he saw the little spaniel by his side, and joyously he asked her: 

“Aren’t you really dead, then?”

And skipping toward him she replied: 

“I do not understand what you are saying to me.  My noonday sleep to-day was peaceful and bright.”

Then Rabbit saw that the other animals were following him into the void, while Francis was journeying along another heavenly pathway, indicating to the wolf by means of signs with his hand to put his trust in Rabbit.  And the wolf with docility and peace in his heart felt Faith come over him again.  He continued on his way with his friends, after a long look toward his master, and knowing that for those who are chosen there is something divine even in the final adieu.

* * * * *

They left winter behind them.  They were astonished at passing through these meadows which formerly were so inaccessible and so far above their heads.  But the need of gaining Paradise gave them a firm footing in the sky.

By the paths of the seraphim, along the trellises of light, over the milky ways where the comet is like a sheaf of grain, Rabbit guided his companions.  Francis had entrusted them to him, and had given him to them as guide because he knew Rabbit’s prudence.  And had he not on many occasions given his master proofs of this quality of discretion which is the beginning of wisdom?  When Francis met him and begged him to follow, had he not waited until Francis held out a handful of flowering grass and let him nibble at it?  And when all his companions let themselves die of hunger for love of one another, had not he with his down-trodden heels continued to gnaw the bitter bark of the trees?

Therefore it seemed that this prudence would not fail him even in heaven.  If they lost their way he would find the right road again.  He would know how not to get lost, and how not to collide with either the sun or the moon.  He would have the skill to avoid the shooting-stars which are as dangerous as stones thrown from a sling.  He would find the way by the heavenly sign-posts on which were marked the number of miles that had been left behind, as well as the names of the celestial hamlets.

The regions traversed by Rabbit and his companions were ravishing and filled them with ecstasy.  This was all the more the case because contrary to man, they had never suspected the beauties of the sky; they had been able to look only sidewise and not upward, this being the exclusive right of the king of animals.

So it came that Short-tail, the Wolf, the Ewe, the Lamb, the Birds, the Sheep-Dogs, the Spaniel, discovered that the sky was as beautiful as the earth.  And all except Rabbit, who was sometimes troubled by the problems of direction, enjoyed an unalloyed pleasure in this pilgrimage toward God.  In place of the heavenly fields, which only a short while ago seemed inaccessible above their heads, the earth now became in its turn slowly inaccessible beneath their feet.  And as they moved further and further away from it, this earth became a new heavenly canopy for them.  The blue of the oceans formed their clouds of foam, and the candles of the shops sprinkled like stars the expanse of the night.