noon
With these words he turned away and crossed the gingerbread bridge that led back to Cranberry Tart Island . `` A gingerbread cottage , '' laughed Puss to himself , following the path that led into the forest : `` A gingerbread bridge And a gingerbread house , A gingerbread cat And a gingerbread mouse . But the gingerbread cat Ate the gingerbread mouse As she ran on the bridge From the gingerbread house . '' It was now about high noon ; but the air was cool and balmy , for the sun hardly penetrated the deep recesses of the green forest . As Puss trudged along he sang a little song to himself . I think he must have been something of a poet , for unconsciously his words rhymed and the air also was of his own making . A little brown wren , who was hopping along on the green moss that covered the floor of the great forest , heard him , and she told it to some one who afterward told it to me .