ropedancer

“I like decorating my slaves,” she said, referencing the rope, her thin, crimson-coated lips peeling off her front teeth.

It occurred to him then, for the first time, that a third resource was open—he might cut the rope, and let the kite go free!

Once the rope got tangled around Squinty's foot, and he jumped over it to get free.

All this while Squinty was chewing on the apple which he had picked up from the ground after he had jumped over the rope.

Every few days after that the boy took Squinty out of his pen, and let him do the rope-jumping and the acorn-hunting tricks.

And it did not take Squinty long to learn to jump the rope when there was no apple on the other side.