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 The Giant Crab
 
 THE PIOUS WOLF
 
 The Giant Crab 
 
 And Other Tales 
 
 from Old India 
 
 Retold by 
 
 W. H. D. Rouse 
 
 Illustrated by W. Robinson 
 
 ^^ London 
 
 David Nutt, 270-271, Strand 
 1897
 
 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON <S^ Co. 
 London ^ Edinburgh
 
 16.3 
 
 33 l 
 
 
 Warning 
 
 To the Studious or Scientific Reader 
 
 I HOPE no one will imagine this to be a scientific book. 
 It is meant to amuse children ; and if it succeeds in this, 
 its aim will be hit. Thus the stories here given, although 
 grounded upon the great Buddhist collection named 
 below, have been ruthlessly altered wherever this would 
 better suit them for the purpose in view; and probably 
 some of them Buddha himself would fail to recognise. 
 
 My thanks are due to the Syndics of the Cambridge 
 University Press for permitting the use of their translation 
 of the Jataka Book ; * from which comes the groundwork 
 of the stories, and occasionally a phrase or a versicle is 
 borrowed. To this work I refer all scholars, folk-lorists 
 and scientific persons generally : warning them that if 
 they plunge deeper into these pages, they will be horribly 
 shocked. 
 
 * The Jataka, or Stories of the Buddha's former Births. Translated from 
 the Pali by various hands, under the editorship of Professor E. B. Cowell. 
 Vol. I., translated by R. Chalmers, B.A. (1895). Vol. II., translated by 
 W. H. D. Rouse, M.A. (1895). Vol. III., translated by H. T. Francis, M.A., 
 and R. A. Neil, M.A. (1897). Vol. IV., in preparation. All the stories but 
 two come from the second volume of this work. 
 
 8GOG56
 
 Contents 
 
 FACE 
 
 THE GIANT CRAB . ... . . . .... I 
 
 THE HYPOCRITICAL CAT 6 
 
 THE CROCODILE AND THE MONKEY 9 
 
 THE AXE, THE DRUM. THE BOWL, AND THE DIAMOND ... 14 
 
 THE WISE PARROT AND THE FOOLISH PARROT 36 
 
 THE DISHONEST FRIEND 30 
 
 THE MOUSE AND THE FARMER '. . 34 
 
 THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE 38 
 
 THE MONKEYS AND THE GARDENER 4! 
 
 THE GOBLIN AND THE SNEEZE . . 45 
 
 THE GRATEFUL BEASTS AND THE UNGRATEFUL PRINCE ... 49 
 
 THE GOBLIN IN THE POOL 56 
 
 THE FOOLISH FARMER AND THE KING 59 
 
 THE PIOUS WOLF 62 
 
 BIRDS OF A FEATHER 64 
 
 SPEND A POUND TO WIN A PENNY . 68
 
 x Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE CUNNING CRANE AND THE CRAB . . . . . . JO 
 
 UNION IS STRENGTH 77 
 
 SILENCE IS GOLDEN '. 80 
 
 THE GREAT YELLOW KING AND HIS PORTER 82 
 
 THE QUAIL AND THE FALCON 86 
 
 PRIDE MUST HAVE A FALL 88 
 
 THE BOLD BEGGAR 95 
 
 THE JACKAL WOULD A-WOOING GO 97 
 
 THE LION AND THE BOAR IO2 
 
 THE GOBLIN CITY IO6 
 
 LACKNOSE Ill 
 
 THE KING'S LESSON . . . , 114
 
 THE GIANT CRAB 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a lake in the mountains, and 
 in that lake lived a huge Crab. I daresay you have often 
 seen crabs boiled, and put on a dish for you to eat ; and 
 perhaps at the seaside you have watched them sidling 
 away at the bottom of a pool. Sometimes a boy or girl 
 bathing in the sea gets a nip from a crab, and then there 
 is squeaking and squealing. But our Crab was much 
 larger than these ; he was the largest Crab ever heard of ; 
 he was bigger than a dining-room table, and his claws were 
 
 A
 
 2 The Giant Crab 
 
 as big as an armchair. Fancy what it must be to have a 
 nip from such claws as those ! 
 
 Well, this huge Crab lived all alone in the lake. Now 
 the different animals that lived in the wild mountains 
 
 used to come to that lake to drink ; deer and antelopes, 
 foxes and wolves, lions and tigers and elephants. And 
 whenever they came into the water to drink, the great 
 Crab was on the watch ; and one of them at least never 
 went up out of the water again. The Crab used to nip it
 
 The Giant Crab 3 
 
 with one of his huge claws and pull it under, and then 
 the poor beast was drowned, and made a fine dinner for 
 the big Crab. 
 
 This went on for a long time, and the Crab grew bigger 
 and bigger every day, fattening on the animals that came 
 there to drink. So at last all the animals were afraid to 
 go near that lake. This was a pity, because there was 
 very little water in the mountains, and the creatures did 
 not know what to do when they were thirsty. 
 
 At last a great Elephant made up his mind to put an 
 end to the Crab and his doings. So he and his wife 
 agreed that they would lead a herd of elephants there to 
 drink, and while the other elephants were drinking, they 
 would look out for the Crab. 
 
 They did as they arranged. When the herd of elephants 
 got to the lake, these two went in first, and kept farthest 
 out in the water, watching for the Crab ; and the others 
 drank, and trumpeted, and washed themselves close 
 inshore. 
 
 Soon they had had enough, and began to go out of the 
 water ; and then, sure enough, the Elephant felt a 
 tremendous nip on the leg. The Crab had crawled up 
 under the water and got him fast. He nodded to his 
 wife, who bravely stayed by his side ; and then she 
 began : 
 
 " Dear Mr. Crab ! " she said, " please let my husband 
 go ! " 
 
 The Crab poked his eyes out of the water. You know 
 a crab's eyes grow on a kind of little stalk ; and this Crab 
 was so big, that his eyes looked like two thick tree-trunks, 
 with a cannon-ball on the top of each. Now this Crab
 
 4 The Giant Crab 
 
 was a great flirt, or rather he used to be a great flirt, but 
 lately he had nobody to flirt with, because he had eaten 
 up all the creatures that came near him. And Mrs. 
 Elephant was a beautiful elephant, with a shiny brown 
 skin, and elegant flapping ears, and a curly trunk, and two 
 white tusks that twinkled when she smiled. So when the 
 big Crab saw this beautiful elephant, he thought he would 
 like to have a kiss ; and he said in a wheedling tone : 
 
 " Dear little Elephant ! Will you give me a kiss ? " 
 
 Then Mrs. Elephant pretended to be very pleased, and 
 put her head on one side, and flapped her tail ; and she 
 looked so sweet and so tempting, that the Crab let go the 
 other elephant, and began to crawl slowly towards her, 
 waving his eyes about as he went. 
 
 All this while Mr. Elephant had been in great pain 
 from the nip of the Crab's claw, but he had said nothing, 
 for he was a very brave Elephant. But he did not mean 
 to let his wife come to any harm ; not he ! It was all 
 part of their trick. And as soon as he felt his leg free, he 
 trumpeted loud and long, and jumped right upon the 
 Crab's back ! 
 
 Crack, crack ! went the Crab's shell ; for, big as he was, 
 an elephant was too heavy for him to carry. Crack, 
 crack, crack ! The Elephant jumped up and down on 
 his back, and in a very short time the Crab was crushed 
 to mincemeat. 
 
 What rejoicing there was among the animals when 
 they saw the Crab crushed to death ! From far and near 
 they came, and passed a vote of thanks to the Elephant 
 and his wife, and made them King and Queen of all the 
 animals in the mountains.
 
 The Giant Crab 5 
 
 As for the Crab, there was nothing left of him but his 
 claws, which were so hard that nothing could even crack 
 them ; so they were left in the pool. And in the autumn 
 there came a great flood, and carried the claws down into 
 the river ; and the river carried them hundreds of miles 
 away, to a great city ; where the King's sons found them, 
 and made out of them two immense drums, which they 
 always beat when they go to war ; and the very sound of 
 these drums is enough to frighten the enemy away.
 
 THE HYPOCRITICAL 
 CAT 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a troop 
 of Rats that used to live in holes 
 by a river side. A certain Cat often 
 saw them going to and fro, and 
 longed to have them to eat. But 
 he was not strong enough to attack 
 them all together ; besides, that would 
 not have suited his purpose, be- 
 cause most of them would have run 
 away. 
 
 So he used to stand early in the 
 morning, not far from their holes, 
 with his face towards the sun, 
 snuffing up the air, and standing 
 on one leg.
 
 The Hypocritical Cat 7 
 
 The Rats wondered why he did that, so one day they 
 all trooped up to him in a body, and asked the reason. 
 
 "What is your name, sir ?" they began. 
 
 " Holy is my name," said the Cat. 
 
 " Why do you stand on one leg ? " 
 
 " Because if I stood on all four, the earth could not bear 
 my weight." 
 
 "And why do you keep your mouth open?" 
 
 " Because I feed on the air, and never eat anything 
 else." 
 
 " And why do you face the sun ? " 
 
 " Because I worship the sun." 
 
 " What a pious Cat ! " the Rats all thought. Ever after 
 that, when they started out in the morning, they did not 
 fail first to make their bow to the Cat one by one, and 
 to show 'thus their respect for his piety. 
 
 This was just what our Cat wanted. Every day, as they 
 filed past, he waited till the tail of the string came up ; 
 then like lightning pounced upon the hindmost, and 
 gobbled him up in a trice ; after which he stood on one 
 leg as before, licking his lips greedily. 
 
 For a while all went well for the Cat's plan ; but at last 
 the Chief of the Rats noticed that the troop seemed to 
 grow smaller. Here and there he missed some familiar 
 face. He could not make it out ; but at last a thought 
 came into his mind, that perhaps the pious Cat might 
 know more about it than he chose to tell. 
 
 Next day accordingly, he posted himself at the tail of the 
 troop, where he could see everything that went on ; and 
 as the Rats one by one bowed before the Cat, he watched 
 the Cat out of the end of his eye.
 
 8 The Hypocritical Cat 
 
 As he came up, the Cat prepared for his pounce. But 
 our Rat was ready for him, and dodged out of the way. 
 
 " Aha ! " says the Rat, " so that is your piety ! Feeds 
 on the air, does he ! and worships the sun eh ? What a 
 humbug ! " And with one spring he was at the Cat's 
 throat, and his sharp teeth fast. The other Rats heard 
 the scuffle, and came trooping back ; and it was crunch 
 and munch, till not a vestige remained of the hypocritical 
 Cat. Those who came first had cat to eat, and those who 
 came last went sniffing about at the mouths of their friends, 
 and asking what was the taste of catsmeat. And ever after 
 the Rats lived in peace and happiness.
 
 THE CROCODILE AND THE MONKEY 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a deep and wide river, and 
 in this river lived a crocodile. I do not know whether 
 you have ever seen a crocodile ; but if you did see one, I 
 am sure you would be frightened. They are very long, 
 twice as long as your bed ; and they are covered with 
 hard green or yellow scales ; and they have a wide flat 
 snout, and a huge jaw with hundreds of sharp teeth, so 
 big that it could hold you all at once inside it. This 
 crocodile used to lie all day in the mud, half under water, 
 basking in the sun, and never moving ; but if any little 
 animal came near, he would jump up, and open his big 
 jaws, and snap it up as a dog snaps up a fly. And if you 
 had gone near him, he would have snapped you up too, 
 just as easily.
 
 io The Crocodile and the Monkey 
 
 On the bank of this river lived a monkey. He spent the 
 day climbing about the trees, and eating nuts or wild fruit ; 
 but he had been there so long, that there was hardly any 
 fruit left upon the trees. 
 
 Now it so happened that the crocodile's wife cast a 
 longing eye on this Monkey. She was very dainty in her 
 eating, was Mrs. Crocodile, and she liked the tit-bits. So 
 one morning she began to cry. Crocodile's tears are very 
 big, and as her tears dropped into the water, splash, splash, 
 splash, Mr. Crocodile woke up from his snooze, and looked 
 round to see what was the matter. 
 
 " Why, wife," said he, "what are you crying about ? " 
 
 " I'm hungry ! " whimpered Mrs. Crocodile. 
 
 "All right," said he, " wait a while. I'll soon catch you 
 something." 
 
 " But I want that Monkey's heart ! " said Mrs. Crocodile. 
 Splash, splash, splash, went her tears again. 
 
 "Come, come, cheer up," said Mr. Crocodile. He was 
 very fond of his wife, and he would have wiped away her 
 tears, only he had no pocket-handkerchief. " Cheer up ! " 
 said he ; " I'll see what I can do." 
 
 His wife dried her tears, and Mr. Crocodile lay down 
 again on the mud, thinking. He thought for a whole 
 hour. You see, though he was very big, he was very 
 stupid. At last he heaved a sigh of relief, for he thought 
 he had hit upon a clever plan. 
 
 He wallowed along the bank to a place just underneath 
 a big tree. Up on the tree our Monkey was swinging by 
 his tail, and chattering to himself. 
 
 " Monkey ! " he called out, in the softest voice he could 
 manage. It was not very soft, something like a policeman's
 
 The Crocodile and the Monkey 1 1 
 
 rattle ; but it was the best he could do, with all those sharp 
 teeth. 
 
 The Monkey stopped swinging, and looked down. The 
 Crocodile had never spoken to him before, and he felt 
 rather surprised. 
 
 " Monkey, dear ! " called the Crocodile, again. 
 
 "Well, what is it ?" asked the Monkey. 
 
 " I'm sure you must be hungry," said Mr. Crocodile. 
 " I see you have eaten all the fruit on these trees ; but why 
 don't you try the trees on the other side of the river ? 
 Just look, apples, pears, quinces, plums, anything you could 
 wish for ! And heaps of them ! " 
 
 " That is all very well," said the Monkey. " But how 
 can I get across a wide river like this ? " 
 
 " Oh ! " said the cunning Crocodile, " that is easily 
 managed. I like your looks, and I want to do you a good 
 turn. Jump on my back, and I'll swim across ; then you 
 can enjoy yourself ! " 
 
 Never had the Monkey had an offer so tempting. He 
 swung round a branch three times in his joy ; his eyes 
 glistened, and without thinking a moment, down he 
 jumped on the Crocodile's back. 
 
 The Crocodile began to swim slowly across. The 
 Monkey fixed his eyes on the opposite bank with its 
 glorious fruit trees, and danced for joy. Suddenly he felt 
 the water about his feet ! It rose to his legs, it rose to his 
 middle. The Crocodile was sinking ! 
 
 " Mr. Crocodile ! Mr. Crocodile ! take care ! " said he. 
 " You'll drown me ! " 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! " laughed the Crocodile, snapping his 
 great jaws. " So you thought I was taking you across out
 
 12 The Crocodile and the Monkey 
 
 of pure good nature ! You are a green monkey, to be 
 sure. The truth is, my wife has taken a fancy to you, and 
 wants your heart to eat ! If you had seen her crying this 
 morning, I am sure you would have pitied her." 
 
 " What a good thing you told me ! " said the Monkey. 
 (He was a very clever Monkey, and had his wits about 
 him.) "Wait a bit, and I'll tell you why. My heart, I 
 think you said ? Why, I never carry my heart inside me ; 
 that would be too dangerous. If we Monkeys went 
 jumping about the trees with our hearts inside, we should 
 knock them to bits in no time." 
 
 The Crocodile rose up to the surface again. He felt 
 very glad he had not drowned the Monkey, because, as I 
 said, he was a stupid creature, and did not see that the 
 Monkey was playing him a trick. 
 
 " Oh," said he, " where is your heart, then ? " 
 
 " Do you see that cluster of round things up in the tree 
 there, on the further bank ? Those are our hearts, all in 
 a bunch ; and pretty safe too, at that height, I should 
 hope ! " It was really a fig-tree, and certainly the figs did 
 look very much like a bunch of hearts. "Just you take 
 me across," he went on, "and I'll climb up and drop my 
 heart down ; I can do very well without it." 
 
 " You excellent creature ! " said the Crocodile, " so I 
 will ! " 
 
 And he swam across the river. The Monkey leapt 
 lightly off the Crocodile's back, and swung himself up the 
 fig-tree. Then he sat down on a branch, and began to eat 
 the figs with great enjoyment. 
 
 " Your heart, please ! " called out the Crocodile. " Can't 
 you see I'm waiting ? "
 
 The Crocodile and the Monkey 13 
 
 " Well, wait as long as you like ! " said the Monkey. 
 " Are you such a fool as to think that any creature keeps 
 its heart in a tree ? Your body is big, but your wit is 
 little. No, no ; here I am, and here I mean to stay. 
 Many thanks for bringing me over ! " 
 
 The Crocodile snapped his jaws in disgust, and went 
 back to his wife, feeling very foolish, as he was ; and the 
 Monkey had such a feast in the fig-tree as he never had in 
 his life before.
 
 Q 
 
 THE AXE t THE DRUM, 
 
 THE BOWL t AND 
 
 THE DIAMOND 
 
 OXCE upon a time there was a poor 
 young man who went out into the 
 world to seek his fortune. He went 
 aboard a ship sailing across the ocean ; 
 and after they had sailed for a year and 
 a day, suddenly a great storm arose. 
 The rain descended, and the wind blew, 
 and it blew so hard and so wild, that 
 the ship went miles out of her course, 
 and the skipper could not tell where 
 they were. And then, in the middle of 
 the night, a great crash came, and the 
 ship was dashed upon a reef. The 
 waves beat and battered it, and turned 
 it topsy-turvy, and the end of it
 
 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 15 
 
 was that every soul was drowned except the poor young 
 man. 
 
 The waves washed him ashore, more dead than alive, 
 and on the shore he lay till next morning, when the sun 
 warmed him and woke him up from his faint. He got up 
 and looked about him, and wandered over the place, which 
 he found was an island. It did not take him long to 
 
 V 
 
 walk round it ; and then he saw that it was a small island, 
 and far as the eye could reach not another speck of land 
 was to be seen. There were plenty of trees growing in 
 the island, with fruit and flowers, bananas and cocoanuts, 
 and springs of water ; but on the trees were no birds, and 
 no animals ran about on the ground. So he lived on the 
 fruits and roots, and did the best he could. 
 
 One day, to his great surprise, he saw a black thing in 
 the skyj and, still more surprising, the black thing had no 
 wings. Yet it was flying, and flew nearer and nearer, 
 until he saw that it was a large wild pig. How could a 
 pig fly through the air ? He rubbed his eyes and looked 
 again ; yes, a pig it was beyond all doubt ; and it flew 
 closer and closer until it came to the island. He hid 
 behind a bush, and saw the pig sink slowly to the ground
 
 1 6 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 
 
 and lie down under a tree. Soon the pig was fast asleep 
 and snoring. He went up close, and, to his amazement, 
 by the pig's side, was the most magnificent diamond he 
 ever saw. It blazed and sparkled in the sun and looked 
 like a ball of fire. He stepped gingerly up to the pig, and 
 took hold of the diamond ; the pig was very sleepy and 
 snored away heartily. As he turned the diamond about 
 in his hand and saw it flash, he suddenly thought to 
 himself, " What if the pig should wake ? He looks fierce, 
 he has great sharp tusks, and I have nothing to defend 
 
 myself with. If I were only up in that tree, now " 
 
 But what on earth had happened ? As the thought came 
 into his mind, he found himself perched in the tree-top. 
 
 For a little while he was quite dazed and dizzy. Then 
 he began to wonder if it could be the diamond which had 
 done this miracle. So just to try, he wished himself down 
 again ; and there he was, without knowing how ! He 
 began to understand that this was a magic diamond, and 
 something which he must take great care of. Then he 
 wished himself up in the tree again. 
 
 When he was in the tree once more, he picked off a nut 
 that was growing on the tree, and dropped it upon the pig's 
 nose. The pig woke up, raised his head, and looked round 
 for the diamond ; he was a very intelligent pig, indeed he 
 was really not a pig at all, but a great magician, who used 
 to fly about in the shape of a pig because he was as wicked 
 as could be, and preferred being a pig rather than a 
 man. There are really a great many people like that, only 
 we see them in the shape of men and do not know the 
 difference. 
 
 Now when this pig saw that his diamond was gone, he
 
 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 17 
 
 fell in a fury ; for all his power lay in the diamond, and 
 without it he was nothing more than any other pig. So 
 he glared and snorted, and looked all round, and down, 
 and up and then he saw the man who had dropped the 
 nut upon his snout ! Then his fury knew no bounds ; he 
 foamed at the mouth, and ran raging round and round 
 the trjp4 but the man only laughed, and dropped more 
 nuts on him. This made him mad indeed, for pigs cannot 
 climb trees, and he saw that his diamond was lost, and 
 with it all his magical power ; so in his madness he charged 
 straight at the tree, and ran his tusks right into the trunk. 
 There they stuck, and tug as he would, he could not get 
 them out. 
 
 The man wished himself down from the tree, and 
 looked about for a large stone, with which he battered the 
 pig's skull till it was dead. Then he held the diamond 
 over the pig, so that the sun's rays shone clown and 
 were reflected through it ; and so fine and strong was the 
 diamond, that in a very short time a delicious smell of roast 
 pork rose to his nostrils, and the whole pig was done to a 
 turn, with rich crisp crackling. Then he took a sharp shell 
 which he found lying on the beach, and carved off slices 
 of the pork, which he ate. It was very nice indeed, and he 
 had the best meal he had enjoyed since the ship had been 
 wrecked on the reef, and he had been cast ashore on that 
 island. 
 
 By-and-by, when he had finished his dinner, it occurred 
 to him that as the pig had flown there through the air, so 
 he might fly away. So holding his diamond in his hand, 
 he wished to fly through the air to the nearest land. 
 Then he felt himself rising, and he was carried swiftly 
 
 B
 
 1 8 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 
 
 through the air, and away, away over the sea ; the island 
 grew smaller, it became a black patch, it dwindled to 
 a speck in the distance. The sun shone warm upon him, 
 the waves sparkled underneath ; porpoises gambolled 
 about, playing leap-frog in the sea; flying-fish came out 
 of the water in a flash of light, and dropped into the 
 
 water again ; still he went on, till, as the sun was setting, 
 he came close to a sandy beach ; and there before long 
 he stood, wondering what he should do next. 
 
 He looked round, and not far off, behind a clump of 
 bushes, rose a thin column of smoke. He put the 
 diamond in his pocket, and walked towards the smoke. 
 Soon he saw a queer little hut, and at the door, upon the
 
 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 19 
 
 ground, sat a man without any legs. Whether a shark 
 had bitten off his legs, or whether he never had any, 
 I cannot tell you, for he never told me ; but there he sat, 
 like a chessman. He had a fur cap, and a fur coat ; he 
 did not need any trousers, for he had no legs tq put them 
 on, as I have told you. In front of him was a fire, and 
 over the fire was a spit, and on the spit was a young kid 
 roasting. 
 
 "Good evening, sir," said the young man. 
 
 " Good evening," said the other. 
 
 " Can you give me a night's shelter ? " the young man 
 asked. 
 
 " Whatever I have, you may share," said the old man 
 with no legs. 
 
 So they sat down, and ate a good meal ; but the young 
 man was rather frightened to see that the other man ate 
 skin, and bones, and everything. And he did not like the 
 way the old man eyed him. In fact I must tell you, that this 
 old man was another magician, and a friend of the 
 magician who looked like a pig ; and when any travellers 
 came that way, he used to eat them. He did not eat this 
 traveller, because the kid was ready roasted ; but he 
 meant to do it as soon as he should be hungry again. 
 
 " How did you get here ? " asked the old man. 
 
 " I flew over the sea," said the young man. 
 
 "Indeed!" said the old man. "And how did you 
 manage that ? " 
 
 Then the traveller showed his diamond, and told the 
 old man what a wonderful stone it was, and how it gave 
 any one power to fly through the air. 
 
 " If you will give me your diamond," said the old man,
 
 20 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 
 
 " I will give you my axe. You see I have no legs, so you 
 may wonder how I live. This is the way I live. If I slap 
 this axe on the handle, and say, Wood and fire ! away it 
 flies, and cuts wood and kindles a fire. If I slap the steel, 
 and say, Heads ! away it flies, and chops off the head of a 
 goat or any animal I want ; and then it brings me meat for 
 my dinner. Now I have lived here for a thousand years by 
 the help of my axe, and I am rather tired of being in one 
 place. I should like to see the world before I die, and 
 that is why I want your diamond." 
 
 " All right," said the young man, " it's a bargain." They 
 exchanged the axe and the diamond ; the old man turned 
 it over in his hand, chuckling greedily. As soon as the 
 young man got grip of the axe, he smacked the steel, and 
 says he, " Heads !" In a jiffy the axe sliced through the 
 old man's neck like a turnip, and he had no more head 
 than legs. 
 
 Then the traveller picked up the diamond, and put it in 
 his pocket. So now he had two magic things instead of 
 one. He blessed his luck, and fell asleep very happily 
 inside the old magician's hut. 
 
 Next morning, with the diamond in his pocket and the 
 axe on his shoulder, the young man set out on his travels. 
 All day long he walked through the forest, until at even- 
 ing time he saw before him another hut, like the first, 
 where lived the old man with no legs. Before this hut, 
 too, there was a fire burning, and beside the fire sat an 
 old man without any arms. Whether a tiger had bitten 
 off his arms or whether he never had any, I cannot say, 
 because he never told me ; but there he sat like a pair of 
 compasses. He had the stump of a tree to sit on, and
 
 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 21 
 
 before him was another stump, and on this stump was a 
 large bowl of milk, out of which he was drinking. When 
 he saw our friend, he tipped over this bowl with his chin ; 
 instantly a deep roaring river surrounded him and his 
 hut, and he sat in the middle, laughing at the young man's 
 surprise. But he did not laugh long, for the young man 
 instantly wished himself over the river, and there he was. 
 Now it was his turn to laugh. 
 
 " How on earth did you do that ? " asked the old man. 
 He was much too astonished to think of saying good-day. 
 
 " Oh, that's nothing," said the young man, and showed 
 him his diamond. 
 
 The old man's eyes glistened. He thought how nice it 
 would be to have that diamond. 
 
 " What do you say to selling me that diamond ? " 
 said he. 
 
 " What will you give me for it ? " asked the young 
 man. 
 
 " I will give you this bowl. It is a wishing bowl. 
 Whenever you are hungry all you have to do is to wish 
 for something in it, and there it is ; milk, or soup, or 
 wine ; anything that can go in a bowl. And if you turn 
 it over, as you saw me do just now, a rushing, roaring 
 river pours out, and surrounds you, or, if you like, it will 
 flood a whole country and drown every living thing." 
 
 " Dear me ! " said the young man, " that is a wonderful 
 bowl. Well, I agree ; I'll give you my diamond for it." 
 So they exchanged the bowl and the diamond. The old 
 man took the diamond in his hand and watched it sparkle ; 
 but he did not watch long, for the young man slapped his 
 hatchet and cried, "Heads!" In a jiffy the steel sliced
 
 22 The Axe, Drum t Bowl, and Diamond 
 
 through the old man's neck like a cucumber, and he had 
 no more head than arms. Then .the young man picked 
 up his diamond and put it away in his pocket. So now 
 he had three wonderful things instead of two. He blessed 
 his good luck, wished for some delicious wine in his bowl, 
 drank it, and went to sleep happily, in the old man's hut. 
 
 Next morning the young man was up betimes ; and after 
 taking a meal out of his wishing-bowl, he set out once more 
 to walk through the forest. After he had walked for some 
 hours, he heard, far in the distance, a loud rub-a-dub-dub, 
 rub-a-dub-dub, boom, boom, boom. He felt as if he 
 could hardly help running away ; still, with a great effort, 
 he began to walk towards the sound, which got louder 
 and louder every minute, till at last it made a tremendous 
 din. Then, suddenly, just as he came upon a little open 
 glade in the forest, he heard a rustle, bustle, jostle, and 
 out of the trees came a great herd of elephants, lions, 
 tigers, w r olves, and all sorts of wild animals, their hair 
 bristling with fright, and every one of them tearing along 
 at full speed. They were far too much terrified to notice 
 him, and, scurrying across the glade, they vanished among 
 the trees. 
 
 By this time the noise had ceased, but it was riot long 
 before he came upon another little glade, and at the end 
 of the glade was a hut, and in front of that hut sat a big 
 black giant with a drum. 
 
 " Good day to you ! " roared the giant, in a great voice. 
 
 " Good day ! " said the young man, rather frightened. 
 
 " Come and have something to eat ! " roared the giant. 
 
 " Thank you," said the young man. 
 
 They sat down, and the giant offered him some food.
 
 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 23 
 
 But the young man thought it was safer not to take any of 
 the giant's food, so he pulled out his bowl, and wished for 
 some soup, and sipped it. 
 
 " What is that ? " asked the giant. 
 
 The young man told him it was a wishing bowl, that 
 gave any food he wanted. The giant was very much 
 delighted with the wishing bowl, and thought that if 
 he could get that bowl, he would be able to eat without 
 the trouble of getting things. 
 
 " I'll buy that bowl ! " he roared. 
 
 "What will you give me for it?" asked the young 
 man. 
 
 " I will give you this drum," said the giant. " If you 
 beat on one side, everybody that hears it will run away." 
 
 "Ah, that was why the lions and tigers were running 
 away just now ! " said the young man. 
 
 "Yes," said the giant. "And if you beat on the other 
 side, a splendid army of soldiers and horses will spring up 
 out of the ground and defend you." 
 
 " All right, here you are," said the young man, and gave 
 him the bowl. 
 
 The giant took the bowl in great glee, and horrid to 
 tell, wished out loud for a bowlful of blood ! He began 
 to drink it, but he did not finish ; for as he buried his nose 
 in the bowl, the young man slapped his axe, and said 
 " Heads ! " Down came the axe with a crash on the 
 giant's head, and cut it clean in two ! 
 
 If the young man \vas glad when he saw the giant's head 
 cleft in two, he was gladder when he went inside the giant's 
 hut. For there, all round the wall, were the bodies of 
 travellers who had passed that way ; and they were tied to
 
 24 The Axe, Drum, Bowl, and Diamond 
 
 the uprights of the wall, and their bodies were dry as 
 dust, and shrivelled like a medlar. For this giant used to 
 catch all travellers and tie them up in his house, and then 
 he sucked their blood till they were dry. So when our 
 traveller saw what a narrow escape he had had, he 
 determined no longer to remain in that dreadful place. 
 Picking up the bowl and the drum, and feeling to see that 
 his axe and diamond were safe, he wished himself at the 
 gate of the nearest city. 
 
 Now the king of this city was a very cruel king. He 
 used to rob and murder even his own subjects ; and 
 as for strangers, he had short shrift and no mercy for 
 them. So when the king heard that there was a stranger 
 outside the gates, he made up his mind to have some 
 sport ; and sent out a company of soldiers to fetch him in. 
 The young man beat his drum, and they all took to their 
 heels ! You may imagine how angry the king was to hear 
 this ; he had all their heads chopped off on the spot, 
 and sent a regiment. The same thing happened to the 
 regiment. But this only made the king angrier than ever. 
 He ordered all his army to be marshalled before the gates, 
 and himself riding at their head, led them forward to cap- 
 ture this audacious stranger." Then the young man tipped 
 over his wishing bowl. Out poured a roaring torr,ent of 
 water that flooded the plain, and drowned every soldier 
 in the army, all except the king, who had galloped back 
 to the city, and got up on the wall. Then the young man 
 slapped his axe, and cried, " Heads ! I want the king's 
 head ! " Off flew the axe through the air like a boomer- 
 ang, and sliced off the king's head, and brought it back to 
 its master. The people inside the city began to cheer with
 
 The Axe, Drum, Bowl t and Diamond 25 
 
 joy, when they saw the king with his head off. And when 
 the axe came back, the young man beat upon the other 
 side of his drum ; and lo and behold ! the earth began to 
 tremble, it seemed full of holes, and from every hole 
 sprouted a warrior fully armed. Surrounded by his army, 
 he marched into the city, where he became king, and 
 lived happily ever after. And I hope that we may be half 
 as happy as he was.
 
 THE WISE PARROT 
 
 AND THE 
 FOOLISH PARROT 
 
 ONCE upon a. time there 
 was a man who had two 
 pet parrots that could talk 
 very nicely; indeed they 
 
 had more sense than most people have, and when their 
 master was alone he used to spend the evening chattering 
 with them. They cracked jokes like any Christian, and 
 told the funniest tales. 
 
 But this man had a thievish maid-servant. He had to 
 lock everything up, and even as it was, never turned his 
 back but she was filching and pilfering.
 
 The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot 27 
 
 One day the man had to go away on a journey. Before 
 he went he took out the two parrots, and perched one on 
 each fist, and says he to them, "Now, Beaky and Tweaky, 
 I want you to watch the maid while I am gone ; and if 
 she steals anything, you are to tell me when I come home 
 again." 
 
 They blinked at him, their eyelids coming up over their 
 eyes from underneath, as you must have noticed in 
 parrots ; looking very solemn as they did so. Then 
 Beaky said, 
 
 " If she do it 
 She shall rue it ! " 
 
 But Tweaky said nothing at all ; only winked again 
 more solemnly than ever. 
 
 " Good Beaky ! " said the man, " naughty Tweaky ! " 
 
 Then he went away. 
 
 As soon as he was out of sight, the maid began her 
 games. She picked the locks of his cupboards and ate the 
 sugar, she ate the biscuits, she drank the wine. Beaky 
 hopped into the room, stood on one leg, and shrieked, 
 
 " Naughty maid ! 
 Aren't you afraid ? 
 Master shall know, 
 And you shall go ! " 
 
 The maid jumped as if she had been shot, and looked 
 round. She thought somebody had caught her unawares ; 
 but when she saw it was Beaky she put on a sweet smile, 
 and held out a lump of sugar, saying in a coaxing voice, 
 " Pretty Poll ! pretty Beaky ! I won't do it again ! Come, 
 then, and have a nice lump of sugar." 
 
 This temptation was too strong for poor Beaky. He
 
 28 The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot 
 
 wanted very much to do his duty, but he wanted the 
 lump of sugar more. So he put his head on one side and, 
 looking very wise, sidled up to the maid. This was very 
 wrong of Beaky, because he knew the sugar was stolen ; 
 and in another minute he was sorry ; for as soon as he 
 came within reach and pecked at the sugar, the maid 
 caught him by the neck with the other hand. Then her 
 smile changed, and she sneered, 
 
 " So Beaky is going to tell, is he ? Tell-tale tit ! I'll 
 teach Beaky to tell tales ! " As she said each word, she 
 plucked out a feather from poor Beaky's head. Beaky 
 shrieked and Beaky struggled, but all in vain ; she did not 
 let him go till he was bald as a bullet. 
 
 Tweaky saw all this, but said nothing, only winked and 
 blinked, and looked more solemn than ever. The maid 
 looked at him, but thought she, " That bird is too stupid 
 to tell, and he isn't worth the trouble of plucking." So 
 she left him alone. 
 
 By-and-by the master came in. The maid went up to 
 him in a great bustle, and said she had found Beaky 
 stealing sugar, and she had plucked him as a punishment. 
 
 When the evening came, the master sat in his room with 
 Beaky and Tweaky. Poor Beaky felt ashamed of himself, 
 and had nothing to say ; he sat on his perch the picture 
 of misery, with his tail drooping, and his ridiculous bald 
 head. Tweaky said nothing at all. 
 
 Now it happened that the master had a bald head too, 
 and when he took off his skull-cap, which he generally 
 wore to keep his head warm, Tweaky noticed it. 
 
 He laughed loud and shrieked out, "Oh-oh-oh! 
 Where's your feathers, Tell-tale tit ? Where's your feathers, 
 Tell-tale tit ? "
 
 The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot 29 
 
 Tweaky was only a parrot, you see, and was not always 
 quite correct in his grammar, as you are. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked the master. 
 
 But for a long time Tweaky would say nothing but the 
 same words over and over again, " Where's your feathers, 
 Tell-tale tit ? " However, by-and-bye they heard the maid 
 going to bed, tramp, tramp, tramp. Then Tweaky grew a 
 little braver ; and next time the master asked him what he 
 meant, he replied : 
 
 " Every parrot has two eyes, 
 Both the foolish and the wise ; 
 But the wise can shut them tight 
 When 'tis best to have no sight. 
 Wisdom has the best of it : 
 Where's your feathers, Tell-tale tit ? " 
 
 Then the master understood what had happened, for he 
 was a very clever man ; and without any delay he ran 
 upstairs two steps at a time, and woke the maid, and made 
 her dress herself, and turned her out of the house then and 
 there. I wonder why he did not do it before, but that is 
 no business of mine. 
 
 After that, poor Beaky never had the heart to talk again ; 
 but Tweaky, whenever he saw a bald-headed man, or a 
 woman with a high forehead, shrieked out at the top of 
 his voice 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! Where's your feathers, Tell-tale tit ? "
 
 THE DISHONEST FRIEND 
 
 THERE was once a man who went on a journey, and he 
 asked a friend to take charge of his plough till he should 
 return. The friend promised 
 to take great care of it. But 
 no sooner was the man gone 
 than he sold the plough and 
 put the price in his own 
 pocket. Was not that a mean 
 trick to serve a friend ? 
 
 The man came back, and 
 asked his friend for the 
 plough. 
 
 " Oh, I am so sorry," the 
 friend replied ; " my house is 
 infested with rats, and one 
 night a very big rat came and 
 ate it up." 
 
 " Ah well," said the man, 
 " what can't be cured must be 
 
 endured ! It must have been a very big rat, though." 
 " It was," said the other, " very big."
 
 The Dishonest Friend 31 
 
 You must not suppose this man was quite such a fool 
 as he seemed. You will soon see why he did not make a 
 fuss about his plough. 
 
 Next day he took his friend's son out for a walk. When 
 they had gone some distance he took the boy to another 
 
 friend's house, and told this friend to keep the boy safe, 
 but not to let him go out of the house till he returned. 
 
 Then he ran back to the boy's father. 
 
 " Where is my boy ? " asked the father. 
 
 " Your boy ? Oh, I remember a hawk swooped down 
 and carried him off." 
 
 " Oh, you liar ! oh, you murderer ! " said the friend. 
 "Come before the judge, and then we shall see." 
 
 "As you please," said the man.
 
 32 The Dishonest Friend 
 
 So they went to the court. 
 
 " What is your complaint ? " asked the judge. 
 
 " My lord, this man took my son out for a walk with 
 him, and came back alone, and now he says a hawk 
 carried him off. He must have murdered the boy ! 
 Justice, my lord, justice ! " 
 
 "What is this ?" asked the judge sternly. " Come, my 
 man, tell the truth." 
 
 " It is the truth, my lord," said the man ; " he came 
 with me for a walk, and was carried away by a hawk." 
 
 "Nonsense !" said the judge. "Who ever heard of a 
 hawk carrying off a boy ? " 
 
 "And who ever heard, my lord, of a rat eating a 
 plough ? "
 
 The Dishonest Friend 33 
 
 "What do you mean ? " asked the judge. 
 
 The man told his story. Then the judge saw that the 
 man who complained had cheated his friend, and under- 
 stood what was the reason of this little trick. So he said 
 to the man whose son was lost : 
 
 " If you find the plough that was entrusted to you, 
 perhaps your son may be found too." 
 
 The man was much annoyed at being found out, but, 
 willy nilly, he had to give the plough back. Then his son 
 was brought back safe to him again. And he began to 
 see that honesty is the best policy.
 
 THE MOUSE AND THE FARMER 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a Mouse, who made his hole 
 in a place where there were thousands and thousands of 
 golden sovereigns buried in the ground. Now there was 
 a Farmer who owned the land where this treasure was 
 buried ; but he did not know about it, or else of course he 
 would have dug it up. He often noticed the little Mouse 
 sitting with his head peeping out of the hole, but as he 
 was a very kind Farmer, he never hurt the Mouse ; and 
 now and then when he was having his own dinner, he 
 would throw the Mouse a bit of cheese. 
 
 The Mouse was very grateful to the Farmer, and 
 wondered what he could do to show it. At last he 
 thought of the treasure ; for this Mouse was sensible enough 
 to know that Farmers are very pleased to get a golden 
 sovereign now and again. So one day, as the Farmer 
 went by the hole, Mousie ran out with a golden sovereign 
 in his mouth, and dropped it at the Farmer's feet. You can 
 imagine how glad the Farmer was to see a golden
 
 The Mouse and the Farmer 35 
 
 sovereign. Indeed, it was the first one he had seen since 
 the Corn Laws were abolished. So he thanked the Mouse, 
 and went down to the village, and bought him a beautiful 
 piece of meat. After this the Mouse every day brought 
 the Farmer a golden sovereign, and every day the Farmer 
 gave him a big chunk of meat. Thus in a few weeks 
 Mousie grew quite fat. 
 
 But the Farmer had a big black cat that used to prowl 
 about watching for mice. It used never to notice the 
 Farmer's own favourite Mouse while the Mouse was thin ; 
 but when he grew sleek and fat and shiny, Grimalkin 
 (which was the Cat's name) lay in wait for him one day 
 and pounced upon him. Poor little Mousie was terrified. 
 
 " Please don't kill me, Mr. Grimalkin ! " said Mousie. 
 
 "Why not ? I'm hungry and you are fat ! " 
 
 " But, sir, if you eat me now, you'll be hungry to-morrow, 
 won't you ? " 
 
 " Of course I shall ! " said Grimalkin. 
 
 " Well," said Mousie, who had suddenly thought of a 
 plan ; " if you will only let me go, I'll bring you a beautiful 
 juicy piece of meat every day ! " 
 
 This was a tempting offer for Grimalkin, who was a lazy 
 Cat, and liked sitting by the fire, and licking himself all 
 over, better than hunting for mice. 
 
 " All right," said he ; " only if you leave out one day, 
 you're a dead mouse ! " Then, with a frightful spit, 
 bristling up all his whiskers and eyebrows, Grimalkin ran 
 away. 
 
 So next day, when the Farmer gave Mousie his dinner, 
 Mousie carried it off to the black Cat, and the black Cat 
 spat and swore and ate it up, and away ran Mousie
 
 36 The Mouse and the Farmer 
 
 trembling. But by degrees Mousie grew thinner and 
 thinner, because Grimalkin always had his dinner ; and 
 soon he was nothing but skin and bone. Then the 
 Farmer noticed how thin his Mouse had become, so one 
 day he asked the Mouse whether he was ill. 
 
 " No," said Mousie, " I'm not ill." 
 
 " What is the matter, then ? " asked the Farmer. 
 
 " I never get any dinner now," said Mousie, with tears 
 running down over his nose, " because Grimalkin eats it 
 all ! " Then he told the Farmer about the bargain he 
 had made with Grimalkin. 
 
 Now the Farmer had a beautiful piece of glass, with a 
 hole in the middle. I think it was an inkstand, but I am 
 not sure. So he took this piece of glass and put Mousie 
 inside it, and turned it upside down upon the ground in 
 front of Mousie's hole. "Now," said he, "next time 
 Grimalkin comes for your dinner, tell him you have none 
 for him, and see what will happen." 
 
 So next day up comes Grimalkin for his dinner, spitting 
 and looking very fierce. 
 
 " Meat ! meat ! " says he to the Mouse. 
 
 " Get off, vile thief ! " says Mousie, " I've no meat for 
 the likes of you ! " 
 
 At this Grimalkin could hardly believe his ears. He \vas 
 in a rage, I can tell you ; and, without stopping to think, 
 pounced upon Mousie, and swallowed him, inkstand and 
 all. You see, as it was all glass, Grimalkin did not know 
 that there was any inkstand there, because he saw the 
 Mouse through it. 
 
 Now cats can digest a good deal, but they can't digest a 
 glass inkstand. So Grimalkin, when he had swallowed
 
 The Mouse and the Farmer 
 
 37 
 
 the Mouse and the inkstand, felt a pain inside ; and this 
 got worse and worse, until at last he died. And then 
 Mousie crept out of the inkstand, and crawled up through 
 Grimalkin's throat, and went back to his hole again. And 
 there he lived all his life in happiness, every day bringing 
 a golden sovereign to the Farmer, who gave him every 
 day a beautiful dinner of meat.
 
 THE TALKATIVE 
 TORTOISE 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was 
 a Tortoise that lived in a 
 pond. He was a most worthy 
 Tortoise, but he had one fault, 
 he would talk in season and 
 out of season; all day long 
 it was chatter, chatter, chatter 
 in that pond, until the fish said 
 that they would rather live on 
 dry land than put up with it 
 any longer. 
 
 But the Tortoise had two 
 friends, a pair of young Geese, 
 who used to fly about near 
 the pond in search of food. 
 And when they heard that 
 things were getting hot for the
 
 The Talkative Tortoise 39 
 
 Tortoise in that pond, because he talked so much, they 
 flew up to him and cried eagerly : 
 
 " Oh, Tortoise ! do come along with us ! We have such 
 a beautiful home away in the mountains, where you may 
 talk all day long, and nobody shall worry you there ! " 
 
 " All very well," grumbled the Tortoise, " but how am I 
 to get there ? I can't fly !" 
 
 " Oh, we'll carry you, if you can only keep your mouth 
 shut for a little while." 
 
 " Yes, I can do that," says he, " when I like. Let us be 
 off." 
 
 So the Geese picked up a stout stick, and one Goose 
 took one end in her bill and the other Goose took the 
 other end, and then they told the Tortoise to get 
 hold in the middle ; " only be careful," said they, " not 
 to talk." 
 
 The Tortoise set his teeth fast on the stick, and held on 
 like grim death, while the Geese, flapping their strong 
 wings, rose in the air and flew towards their home. 
 
 All went well for a time. But it so happened that some 
 boys were looking up in the air, and were highly amused 
 by what they saw. 
 
 " Look there ! " cried one to the rest, " two Geese carry- 
 ing a Tortoise on a stick ! " 
 
 The Tortoise on hearing this was so angry that he forgot 
 all about his danger, and opened his mouth to cry out : 
 " What's that to you ? Mind your own business ! " But
 
 40 The Talkative Tortoise 
 
 he got no farther than the first word ; for when his mouth 
 opened he loosed the stick, down he dropped, and fell with 
 a crash on the stones. 
 
 The talkative Tortoise lay dead, with his shell cracked 
 in two.
 
 v 
 
 THE MONKEYS 
 
 AND 
 THE GARDENER 
 
 ONCE upon a time 
 there was a beautiful 
 park, full of all manner 
 of trees and shrubs, 
 with beds of flowers 
 set here and there, and 
 no end of fruit-trees. 
 A gardener used to 
 take care of this park ; 
 pruning the trees 
 when they made too 
 
 much wood, and digging the ground, and watering the 
 
 flowers in dry weather. 
 
 It happened that there was a fair to be held away in the 
 
 city, and the gardener very much wanted to go. But 
 
 who would take care of the park and garden ? If his
 
 4 2 The Monkeys and the Gardener 
 
 master came in and found all the flowers drooping or 
 dead, what would he say then ! It would never do. 
 
 Meditating thus, and in doubt, he looked up into the 
 branches of the trees, and a bright thought struck him. 
 I must tell you that in this park there were not only herds 
 of deer, and plenty of rabbits and other creatures that 
 usually live in parks, but there were troops of monkeys in 
 the trees, who climbed and chattered and cracked nuts all 
 day long, with no lessons to do. -And when the gardener 
 cast up his eyes to the trees, he saw some monkeys 
 that he knew very well indeed. Many a time he 
 had been kind to them ; and now he thought they 
 should do the like by him, as one good turn deserves 
 another. 
 
 So the gardener called out, " Monkeys, I want you ! " 
 
 Down they all clambered, and in a very short time they 
 were sitting beside him on the grass. 
 
 " Monkeys," said he, " I have been a good friend to 
 you, letting you eat my nuts and apples. And now I 
 want to take a holiday. Will you water my garden while 
 I am away ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, yes, yes ! " cried the Monkeys. They thought 
 it a great joke, and leaped for joy. 
 
 So the gardener handed over his watering-pots to the 
 monkeys, and put on his Sunday clothes, and went away 
 to the fair. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Monkeys held a solemn council, sitting 
 in a ring round the Monkey chief. 
 
 " Brothers," said the Monkey chief, " our good friend, 
 the gardener has given us charge of this garden and all 
 there is in it. We must take care not to hurt anything,
 
 The Monkeys and the Gardener 
 
 43 
 
 and, above all, not to waste the water. There is very little 
 
 water, and I really don't think 
 
 it will go round." 
 
 It was in fact a well, very 
 
 small at the top, but very deep, 
 
 and at the bottom the water 
 
 was always running. You 
 
 might have watered till dooms- 
 day out of that well ; but 
 
 monkeys, though they are cun- 
 ning, are not wise, and these 
 
 monkeys thought that a little 
 
 round hole could not hold very 
 
 much water. 
 
 "So you see," the Monkey chief went on, "you must 
 give each plant just enough 
 water, and no more ; and I 
 think the best way will be, 
 to see how long the roots 
 are." 
 
 So each Monkey took a 
 watering-pot, and they scat- 
 tered all over the garden. 
 Every bush and every plant 
 they carefully pulled up, 
 and measured its roots ; 
 and then they gave a great 
 deal of water to plants 
 with long roots, and only 
 a little when the roots 
 were short. After that
 
 44 The Monkeys and the Gardener 
 
 they put the plants and bushes back in the holes they 
 came from. 
 
 After a day or two, back came the gardener from his 
 fair. But what was his horror to see that nearly all the 
 plants in the garden were drooping, some of them dead 
 and many dying, while the Monkeys were busy in every 
 direction pulling up the rest. 
 
 " Oh dear, oh dear, what in the world are you doing ? 
 My garden is ruined, my garden is ruined ! " The poor 
 gardener wept for sorrow. 
 
 The Chief Monkey was very much surprised. He 
 thought he had been very clever to put water according 
 to the size of the roots, and he said so. 
 
 " Clever ! " said the gardener. " Clever indeed ! Fools 
 you are, there is no mistake about it." 
 
 " Fools they may be," said his master, who had come 
 up behind him without being seen, " but, after all, that is 
 their nature. You ought to have known better than to 
 put monkeys in charge of a garden, and you are a greater 
 fool than they." 
 
 Then he sent that gardener away and got another.
 
 THE GOBLIN AND THE SNEEZE 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a very powerful Goblin, who 
 haunted a little house just outside the gates of a city. 
 Nobody else lived in this house. There was a big black 
 beam that ran across from one side to the other, up in 
 the roof ; and there this Goblin perched. For twelve 
 years he had served the King of the Goblins faithfully, 
 and as a reward he was now permitted to gobble up any 
 man who sneezed inside that house ; and, indeed, that is 
 why these creatures are called Goblins. But if, when a man 
 sneezed, some one else said, " God bless you ! " as people
 
 The Goblin and the Sneeze 
 
 do say, or " May you live a hundred years ! " then the 
 man who said it was free ; and if the other answered, 
 " The same to you ! " he was free too. Everybody but 
 these the Goblin might gobble up for a single sneeze. 
 
 Now it fell out that one day a 
 father and son were travelling along 
 the road, and they came to the city 
 gates just as the sun went down. I 
 must tell you that in those days the 
 people used to shut the city gates fast 
 at sunset, and nothing would make 
 them open again till the morning 
 they were horribly afraid of robbers 
 or wild soldiers, who might come 
 and damage them in the night. So 
 when these two wayfarers came up 
 to the gates, and wanted to go in, the 
 porter said no. 
 
 " Now, do we look like robbers ? " 
 asked the father. Certainly they did 
 not, dusty and grimy with their trudge, 
 and a bag of tools over the shoulder. 
 " Robbers or no robbers, orders are orders," said the 
 porter, " and this gate doesn't open for the King himself." 
 "Well, what are we to do ?" The poor fellow was in 
 despair. 
 
 " Oh, there's an empty house outside ; there it is among 
 the trees. It is haunted, they say ; but I daresay the 
 Goblin won't hurt you." 
 
 " Goblin ! well, we must take our chance, I suppose." 
 Indeed, there was nothing for it ; so to the house they
 
 The Goblin and the Sneeze 47 
 
 went. They rested, and cooked a meal for themselves 
 on a fire of sticks, and then prepared to go to sleep. 
 
 The Goblin, however, was not going to let them off so 
 easily ; he wanted his dinner too. After waiting a long 
 time, with never a sneeze from one or the other, he raised 
 a cloud of fine dust ; that was rather mean of him, but 
 
 still he was very hungry, and did not stick at trifles. 
 Sure enough, the father nearly sneezed his head off. 
 
 The Goblin chuckled, and made ready to pounce from 
 his perch and devour the pair of them. But the son 
 happened to see him, and, being a sharp lad, he guessed 
 the truth. " God bless you, father ! " says he ; " may you 
 live a hundred years ! " 
 
 How the Goblin gnashed his teeth ! However, if his
 
 48 The Goblin and the Sneeze 
 
 pudding was lost, his meat was left ; so he stretched out a 
 great claw to clutch the father and tear him to pieces. 
 
 Just then the father cried, "Thank you, my son, and 
 the same to you ! " 
 
 He was only just in time ; the claw was within an inch 
 of his throat ; but the Goblin, baffled, flew up to his perch 
 again, and sat mouthing and mumbling there. 
 
 Then the son began to talk to this Goblin, and showed 
 him the error of his ways, and how cruel he was to eat 
 men ; and the end of it was, he persuaded the Goblin to 
 become a vegetarian, and to follow him about, and be his 
 errand-boy. You will think this was a very soft-hearted 
 Goblin. Perhaps no one had ever spoken kindly to him 
 before ; anyhow, whatever the reason was, he went out 
 with the two travellers, as tame as a tabby cat ; and for all 
 I know, they may be travelling together to this very day.
 
 THE GRATEFUL BEASTS AND THE 
 UNGRATEFUL PRINCE 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a King, and he had a son. 
 And this son was so cruel and disagreeable, that he took 
 a delight in hurting people, and never spoke to anybody 
 without an oath or a blow. He was a thorn in the flesh to 
 everybody he came across ; he was like grit in the 
 porridge, like a fly in the eye, like a stone in the shoon. 
 And they called him the Wicked Prince. 
 
 One day the Wicked Prince went down to the river to 
 bathe, along with a number of servants. By-and-by a 
 great storm came on, and the clouds were so thick that it 
 became pitch-dark. However, this Prince was obstinate, 
 and would not give up his bathe ; and as he was too lazy 
 even to bathe himself, he swore at his servants, and 
 said : 
 
 " You lazy beasts ! Bathe me, and look sharp about it, 
 or I'll tickle you with a cat-o'-nine-tails ! " 
 
 Now the servants had had enough of this young bully ; 
 and thought they, " What if we pitch him into the river, 
 where the current is strong, and just leave him there ! 
 
 D
 
 50 Grateful Beasts and Ungrateful Prince 
 
 We can easily pretend he was carried away where we 
 could not reach him ; and if the King finds us out, and 
 puts us to death anyhow, death is better than his eternal 
 bullying." So they pitched him head over heels into the 
 water, though he screamed and struggled, and then they 
 went home and told the King that he had gone in to 
 bathe, and a flood carried him away. I daresay it was 
 wicked of them to tell such a lie, but it was more the 
 Prince's fault than theirs. 
 
 Meanwhile the Prince had got hold of a tree that had 
 been torn up by the roots, and climbing upon it, went 
 floating down the river. 
 
 Now on the banks of this river lived a Snake. This 
 Snake had once been a very rich man, and he had buried 
 a vast treasure on the river bank ; and he loved his riches 
 more than he loved his own soul, so when he died, he 
 was born again as a Snake, and had to live for ever close 
 to his buried hoard. And a Rat that lived close by had 
 also been a man once, and buried his money as the Snake 
 had done, instead of using it in doing good ; so he was 
 born as a Rat, and made a hole where his money lay. 
 These two creatures were caught by the flood, and it so 
 happened that they saw the tree where the Wicked Prince 
 was, and swimming to it, each got on one end, while the 
 Prince was in the middle. And a young Parrot flying 
 through the air, was beaten down by the rain ; for in that 
 country the drops of rain are as big as pigeons' eggs, and 
 no birds can fly through it. Then it so happened that 
 this Parrot dropped down upon the same tree where the 
 Snake was, and the Rat, and the Wicked Prince ; and so 
 there were four of them on the tree, floating down the river.
 
 Grateful Beasts and Ungrateful Prince 53 
 
 As the tree came near to a bend in the river, it was 
 washed close to the bank. And on the bank a man was 
 sitting. He did not mind the rain a bit, because he was a 
 Hermit, who thought the world so wicked that he left it 
 and went to live in the jungle all by himself. He built 
 himself a little hut by the riverside, and, wet or fine, he 
 cared not a jot. This man saw the tree, and managed to 
 catch hold of it and pull it ashore. Then he got the four 
 creatures off it, and took them into his hut, and dried 
 them and warmed them by the fire. But he began with 
 the Parrot, because she looked the most miserable of them 
 all ; and then he dried the Rat ; and next the Snake ; 
 and only attended to the man when he had comforted the 
 other three. This made the Wicked Prince very angry. 
 If he abused even those who made much of him, you may 
 imagine how he cursed and swore in his heart at this 
 man who left him to the last ! But he said nothing, 
 because he was afraid that if he did the man might turn 
 him out in the storm again. 
 
 In a day or two the rain stopped, and the flood went 
 down ; and the creatures were all right again as they took 
 their leave of the Hermit. The Snake thanked him for 
 his kindness and said : 
 
 " You have saved my life, good Hermit ! What can I 
 do for you ? You seem to be a poor man ; I am rich, 
 and if you ever want money just come to my hole and 
 call * Snake,' and you shall have all my treasure. Good- 
 bye ! " The Rat said the same. 
 
 The Parrot was very sorry to think that she had no 
 money, so she said : "Silver and gold have I none; but if 
 you ever are hungry, and want some rice, come to my tree
 
 54 Grateful Beasts and Ungrateful Prince 
 
 and -call ' Parrot/ and I'll get you as much rice as ever you 
 like." 
 
 But the Wicked Prince hated this kind Hermit, because 
 he had been left to the last. However, he pretended to be 
 grateful, and said to the Hermit : " I hope you will pay 
 me a visit soon. I am a Prince, and I shall be glad of a 
 chance to repay you for all you have done for me." 
 Then he went away, chuckling to think how he would 
 torment the poor Hermit, if ever he got him into his 
 power. 
 
 This Hermit had all his wits about him, and he knew 
 that people often promise what they never mean to do ; 
 so after a while he thought he would put them all to the 
 test. So first he took his stick, and journeyed to the city 
 where the Wicked Prince lived. The Prince, who was 
 King himself now, saw him coming, and thought to him- 
 self : " Aha ! here's that rascal that left me to the last. 
 Wants me to pay him for it, I suppose ! Well, I'll pay him ! 
 I'll pay him out ! " So he called to his men : " Hi there, 
 brutes ! do you see that fellow ? He tried to rob me the 
 other day just catch him and give him a flogging, and then 
 stick a stake through his body, and leave him to die ! " 
 
 Then the servants caught the Hermit, and flogged him 
 well. But the Hermit did not cry out or grumble, only 
 kept on saying to himself quietly: "The proverb's true, 
 the proverb's true ! " 
 
 " What proverb do you mean ? " they asked him. 
 
 " It's unlucky to save a drowning man," said the 
 Hermit. 
 
 Then he told them the whole story, and very angry 
 they were when they heard it. They stopped beating the
 
 Grateful Beasts and Ungrateful Prince 55 
 
 Hermit at once, and seizing the Wicked King, they beat 
 him instead, and stuck a stake through his body, and left 
 him to die. 
 
 Then they made the Hermit King instead of the Wicked 
 Prince. And the Hermit took them a walk into the country, 
 and when they came to the Snake's hole he called out 
 " Snake ! " Out came the Snake, and curled up against his 
 feet, and showed him the hole where his treasure was ; and 
 the Hermit gave it all to his servants. And then they went 
 to the Rat's hole, and he called out " Rat ! " And the Rat 
 ran up, and rubbed his nose against the King's hand, and 
 gave him all his treasure, which the King gave to his 
 servants as well as the other. And last of all they went 
 to the Parrot's tree, and called " Parrot ! " And the 
 Parrot flew up and gave a call, and instantly all the air 
 was black with Parrots. And all the Parrots carried a grain 
 of rice in their beaks, and dropped it on the ground ; and 
 there was such a heap of rice, that it was enough to feed 
 all the people for the rest of their lives. 
 
 So the grateful beasts kept their promise, and the 
 ungrateful Prince was killed, and the Hermit ruled over 
 his people kindly, and they all lived happily until they 
 died. And when they died they all went to heaven ; and 
 the Snake and the Rat and the Parrot went there too, 
 because they had at last overcome their love of money, 
 and given it away to show how grateful they were to the 
 Hermit for being kind to them.
 
 THE GOBLIN IN THE POOL 
 
 ANIMALS in the forest have no bottles and glasses to drink 
 out of, so if they are thirsty they have to go down to a 
 pool. Now in a certain great forest there was a pool, in 
 which lived a horrible Goblin. He was big and black, 
 like an immense monkey, with an immense mouth, and 
 four rows of sharp teeth ; but he could not come out of 
 the water, because he had no nose, but only gills like a 
 fish. So if any animal came down into the water to get a 
 drink, he pounced upon him at once and gobbled him 
 up ; but he could not touch the animals while they 
 remained on the bank.
 
 The Goblin in the Pool 57 
 
 One year there was a great drought, and the sun was so 
 hot that it dried up all the water in that forest for many 
 miles round, except the pool where this Goblin was ; but 
 this pool was very deep and cool, under the trees, and 
 therefore it was not dried up. There was a herd of 
 monkeys who had been wandering about for a long time 
 in search of water, but found none, until they came to 
 this pool. But the King of the Monkeys was very clever, 
 and he noticed that there were a great many footprints 
 going down to the water, and none coming away. So he 
 warned his Monkeys not to go near that pool. However, 
 one of them was very thirsty, and ran down into the 
 water ; but as soon as he got into the water, and was 
 having a delicious drink suddenly he disappeared ! 
 There were some bubbles, and no more was seen of the 
 Monkey. The other Monkeys watched for a long time, 
 wondering what had become of their friend ; and then an- 
 other, who was so thirsty that he could not help it, stepped 
 quietly into the water and began to drink. In an instant 
 he gave a shriek and threw up his hands, and the others 
 saw him dragged down below the water ! A few bubbles 
 came upto the top andburst, but the poor Monkey was gone. 
 
 What were they to do ? They were dying of thirst, and 
 yet they were afraid to drink ; the banks were high, 
 and they could not reach the water from the top. So 
 they all sat round the banks, looking at the water, very 
 unhappy. 
 
 By-and-by a man came down to the side of the pool. 
 He wanted a drink of water, but he had no glass. So he 
 looked round, and then he saw the Monkeys sitting on 
 the bank, very unhappy.
 
 58 The Goblin in the Pool 
 
 " What's the matter ? " said he. 
 
 " Don't go into that pool ! " said the King of the 
 Monkeys. " If you do, you will be drowned, like our two 
 poor friends ! " 
 
 Then they told him how 7 their friends had gone into the 
 water to drink, and how they had both been pulled under- 
 neath and drowned, none of them could tell how. 
 
 The man understood at once that it was a Goblin. So 
 he pulled up a long reed that was growing on the bank 
 of the pool and cut off the ends, and then he put down 
 one end of it into the water and sucked at the other end, 
 and the water came up from the pool into his mouth. At 
 this the Monkeys were delighted, and they all pulled up 
 reeds from the bank (for you know a monkey always 
 imitates what he sees men do), and sucked up the water 
 through them, and so quenched their thirst without going 
 into the pool. And the Goblin, finding that no more food 
 was to be got, died of starvation ; and a good thing too.
 
 THE FOOLISH FARMER AND 
 THE KING 
 
 ONCE there was a foolish Farmer, who had a son at 
 court, serving the King. This Farmer was a very poor 
 man, and all he had to plough his fields with was one 
 pair of oxen. Two oxen was all he had, and one of 
 them died. 
 
 The poor Farmer was in despair. One ox was not 
 enough to draw the plough over the heavy land ; and he 
 had no money to buy another. So he sent a message to 
 his son, that he was wanted at home. 
 
 When the son came, his father told him that one of his 
 oxen was dead, and he had no money to buy another. 
 So he begged his son to ask the King to give him an ox. 
 
 " No, no," said his son, " I am always asking the King 
 for something. If you want an ox, you must ask him 
 yourself." 
 
 " I can't do it ! " said the poor Farmer. " You know
 
 60 The Foolish Farmer and the King 
 
 what a muddle-head I am. If I go to ask the King for 
 another ox, I shall end by giving him this one ! " 
 
 " Well, what must be, must be," said his son. " Anyhow, 
 I cannot ask the King : but I'll train you to do it." 
 
 So he led his father to a place which was dotted all 
 over with clumps of grass. The young courtier tied up a 
 number of bundles of this grass, and arranged them in 
 rows. ^ " Now, look here, father," said he, " this is the 
 King, that is the Prime Minister, that is the General, here 
 are the other grandees," pointing to each bundle as he 
 said the name. " When you come into the King's 
 presence, you must begin by saying : ' Long live the 
 King ! ' and then ask your boon." To help him to 
 remember, the son made up a little verse for his father 
 to say, and this is the verse : 
 
 " I had two oxen to my plough, with which my work was done. 
 Now one is dead : O, mighty king, please give me another one ! " 
 
 " Well," said the Farmer, " I think I can say that." 
 And he repeated it over and over, bowing and scraping 
 to the bunch of grass that he called the King. 
 
 Every day for a whole year the Farmer practised ; and 
 how the ploughing got on meanwhile I do not know. 
 Perhaps he lived on the seed-corn, and did not plough at 
 all. 
 
 At the end of the year he said to his son : 
 
 " Now I know that little verse of yours ! Now I can 
 say it before any man ! Take me to the King ! " 
 
 So together father and son trudged away to the King's 
 palace. There on a throne he sat, in gorgeous robes, with 
 his courtiers all around him, the Prime Minister, the
 
 The Foolish Farmer and the King 61 
 
 General, and all, just as the young man had told his 
 father. But the poor Farmer ! his head was beginning to 
 swim already. 
 
 " Who is this ? " said the King to the Farmer's son, who, 
 as you know, was a courtier, so the King knew him. 
 
 " It is my father, Sire," he answered. 
 
 " What does he want ? " the King asked. 
 
 All eyes were turned on the Farmer, who by this time 
 was as red as a turkey-cock, and hardly knew vijhether 
 he stood on head or heels. However, he plucked up 
 courage, and out came the verse, as pat as a pancake : 
 
 " I had two oxen to my plough, with which my work was done. 
 Now one is dead : O, mighty king, please take the other one ! " 
 
 The King couldn't help laughing ; and he saw there 
 must be a mistake somewhere. " Plenty of oxen at home, 
 eh ! " said he, keeping up the joke. 
 
 "If so, Sire," said the Farmer's son with a bow, "you 
 must have given them." 
 
 The King thought that rather neat. " If I have not 
 given you any so far," said he, smiling, " I will do it 
 now." 
 
 And when the pair got home, the Farmer in despair at 
 his blunder, lo and behold in his cowhouse were half a 
 dozen of the finest oxen he had ever seen ! So the poor 
 old Farmer got his oxen, though he did make a muddle of 
 the verse.
 
 THE PIOUS WOLF 
 
 ONCE there was a flood, and there was a large rock with a 
 Wolf sleeping on the top. The water came pouring 
 around the rock, and when the Wolf awoke he found 
 himself imprisoned, with no way of getting off, and 
 nothing to eat. 
 
 " H'm ! " said he to himself, " here I am, caught fast 
 sure enough, and here I shall have to stay yet awhile. 
 Nothing to eat, either ! Well," he thought, after a pause, 
 " it is Friday to-day, when people say you ought to fast. 
 Suppose I keep a holy fast to-day ? A capital idea ! " 
 So he crossed his paws, and pretended to pray, and 
 thought himself very good and pious to be fasting. 
 
 A fairy saw this, and heard what he said ; and she 
 thought she would just see how much was real and how 
 much was sham. So she changed herself into the shape 
 of a pretty little Kid, and jumped down out of the air on 
 to the rock. 
 
 The Wolf opened an eye to see what the noise could 
 be,- and there was a tender little Kid, standing on the 
 rock. He forgot his prayers in a minute. "Aha ! " said 
 he. " A Kid ! I can keep my Friday fast to-morrow.
 
 The Pious Wolf 63 
 
 Now for the Kid ! " He smacked his lips, and jumped at 
 the Kid. 
 
 But the Kid jumped away, and, try as he would, he 
 could not come near it. You know it was the fairy, and 
 the fairy did not let herself be caught. 
 
 After trying to catch the Kid for some time the Wolf 
 lay down again. " After all," said he, " it is Friday ; and 
 perhaps I had best keep my fast to-day." 
 
 " You humbug ! " said the fairy, who had gone back to 
 her proper shape ; " you are a nice creature to pretend 
 that you are keeping fast ! You fast because you can't 
 help it, not because you are really good. As a punish- 
 ment, you shall stay on this rock till next Friday, and fast 
 for a week ! " 
 
 So saying, she opened her wings and flew far away.
 
 BIRDS OF A FEATHER 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a big horse called Chestnut. 
 He was as fierce as a fury, and bit everybody who came 
 near him ; his groom always had a broken bone, or a 
 bruise at the least ; and, as for the other horses, let Chest- 
 nut loose in the herd, and there was a fine to-do : a kick 
 for one, a bite for another ; it was hurry, skurry, worry, 
 till they took themselves off and left him alone in the 
 clover. 
 
 Now the King wanted to buy some horses, and a dealer 
 had driven down a couple of hundred of them for the 
 King to buy. But the King was a skinflint, and wanted to 
 get them cheap ; so he dropped a hint to his groom, that 
 it would not be a bad thing if Chestnut made acquaint- 
 ance with these horses ; at the same time, he dropped a 
 gold piece in the groom's hand. So the groom led Chest- 
 nut by this new herd, and, all of a sudden, he quietly 
 flicked Chestnut with his whip ; Chestnut reared and 
 plunged, the groom shouted, and, pretending to find the 
 horse too strong for him, let go the halter. Off galloped 
 Chestnut, kicking up his heels in the air, roaring and 
 whinnying ; and fine fun he had among the new horses !
 
 Birds of a Feather 65 
 
 By the time he had done with them, hardly one had a 
 whole skin. 
 
 The poor dealer was in despair. He would be ruined ! 
 And next day, when the King came to see the horses, he 
 turned up his nose. " Pooh ! do you suppose I want 
 bruised old hacks like that ? Look at that sore ! And here 
 is a broken jaw ! Why, half of them limp ! " In vain 
 the dealer protested that it was Chestnut's fault ; the King 
 only laughed, and asked if he expected him to believe 
 that one horse could do all that mischief. (And yet, as 
 you know, it was one horse, and at the King's own bid- 
 ding too.) However, it was a pity that he should have to 
 take them back again, the King said ; so, if he liked, as a 
 favour, he would buy the horses, at half price. 
 
 The dealer was not taken in by this, but he pretended 
 to be very grateful, and went home again, wondering 
 what he could do. He was afraid to offend the King, and, 
 indeed, very few people were rich enough to buy his 
 splendid horses. So he knew that he would be obliged 
 to take some more down to the King another time. Then 
 he suddenly remembered he had just such another vicious 
 brute at home, named Strongjaw, that nobody could do 
 anything with. "Aha !" said he ; ".I have it ! I'll take 
 Strongjaw down with me next time, and if he does not 
 prove a match for Chestnut I am very much mistaken." 
 He chuckled with glee as he thought what a fine fight 
 there would be between the two. 
 
 Next time, as he had resolved, he brought Strongjaw 
 with the drove, and as soon as the King's groom came by 
 with Chestnut, and let him go as he did before, the 
 dealer's eyes twinkled, and he let out Strongjaw. Chest- 
 
 E
 
 66 Birds of a Feather 
 
 nut pricked up his ears, and Strongjaw pricked up his ; 
 then, without taking any notice of the rest, they trotted 
 up to each other and rubbed noses, and began to lick 
 each other all over. They did not fight at all, but in a 
 moment they became bosom friends. 
 
 The dealer could not understand this, neither could the 
 
 King. However, this time the King had to pay a good 
 price for the horses, and as he saw his little trick was 
 found out, he felt rather ashamed of himself, and so he 
 paid the man for the other horses as well. Still, they 
 kept wondering and wondering what the reason could be 
 that these two horses, each so fierce and wild, were quiet 
 as a pair of kittens together. The King asked the wisest 
 man in all his kingdom to explain it ; and the man, who 
 was a minstrel, that is, he used to sing songs to the King
 
 Birds of a Feather 67 
 
 about all that had happened or would happen in the 
 world, took up his harp and sang : 
 
 " If the reason you would know, 
 Like to like will always go ; 
 Here's a pair of vicious horses 
 Just the same in all their courses ; 
 Both are wild, and bite their tether : 
 Birds of a feather flock together."
 
 SPEND A POUND TO 
 
 WIN A PENNY 
 
 SOME people were steaming peas 
 under a tree, in order to make a 
 meal for their horses. Up in the 
 branches sat a Monkey, who 
 watched with his restless eyes 
 what they were doing. 
 
 " Aha ! " thought the Monkey 
 " I spy my dinner ! " 
 
 So when they had finished 
 steaming the peas, and turned 
 away for a moment to look after 
 the horses, gently, gently, the 
 Monkey let himself down from 
 the tree. He grabbed at the 
 peas, and stuffed his mouth with 
 them, and both hands as full as 
 they could hold, then he clam- 
 bered up to his perch as best
 
 Spend a Pound to Win a Penny 69 
 
 he could. There he sat, his wizened old face happy and 
 cunning, eating the peas. 
 
 Suddenly one pea fell. 
 
 " O dear, O dear ! O my pea, my pea ! " cried the 
 Monkey, gibbering in distress. The other peas began to 
 fall out of his mouth, but he did not notice them. He 
 wrung his hands in despair, and the peas began to fall 
 out of his hands too, but he took no notice. All he 
 thought of was this, that one pea was gone. 
 
 So he shinned down the trunk, and scrambled about 
 on the ground, hunting for his lost pea, but he could not 
 find it anywhere. 
 
 By this time the men had come back, after seeing to 
 their horses. When they saw a monkey meddling with 
 their cooking-pots they all waved their arms, and called 
 out, " Shoo ! shoo ! " Then they picked up stones, and 
 began to pelt the Monkey with them. This terrified the 
 Monkey so much that he gave one jump to the nearest 
 branch, and swung himself up to the top of the tree. 
 
 " After all," said he to himself, " it was only one pea." 
 But he ought to have thought of that before, for now 
 like a thunderclap, it came home to him, that somehow 
 or other all the other peas had gone too. 
 
 That day the Monkey had to content himself with the 
 smell of boiled peas for dinner, and I hope the loss taught 
 him not to be so greedy in future.
 
 THE CUNNING CRANE AND THE CRAB 
 
 ONCE upon a time a number of fish lived in a little pool. 
 It was all very well while there was rain ; but when 
 summer came, and it began to be very hot, the water 
 dried up and got lower and lower, until there was hardly 
 enough to hide the fish. 
 
 Now not far away there was a beautiful lake, always 
 fresh and cool ; for it lay under the shadow of great trees, 
 and it was covered all over with water-lilies. And a Crane 
 lived on the banks of this lake. 
 
 The Crane used to eat fish, when he could catch any ; 
 and one day, coming to the little pool, he saw all the fish 
 gasping in it, and thought of a neat trick to get hold of 
 them without trouble. 
 
 " Dear Fish," said the Crane, " I am so sorry to see you 
 cooped up in this hole. I know a beautiful lake close by, 
 deep and fresh and cool, and if you like I will carry you 
 there." 
 
 The Fish did not know what to make of this, because 
 never since the world began had a crane done a good 
 turn to a fish. You see it is just as absurd to suppose
 
 The Cunning Crane and the Crab 73 
 
 that a crane would help fish, as to think that a cat would 
 be kind to a mouse. 
 
 So they said to the Crane, " We don't believe you ; 
 what you want is to eat us." 
 
 This was just what the Crane did want, but he did not 
 say so. " No, no ! " said he ; " I'm not so cruel as all 
 that. I have eaten a fish now and then " he saw it was 
 of no use denying that, because they knew he had " but 
 I have plenty of other food, and it goes to my heart to see 
 you here. In this hot water you will all be boiled fish 
 before long ! " 
 
 " That's true enough," said the Fish ; " the water is 
 hot." Well, the end of it was, they persuaded an old Fish 
 with one eye to go and see. 
 
 The Crane took the one-eyed Fish in his beak and put 
 him in the lake ; and when he had seen that what the 
 Crane said was true so far, he carried the Fish back again 
 to tell the others. 
 
 The old Fish could not say enough to praise the lake. 
 " It's ever so big," he said, " and deep and cool, just as 
 the Crane said ; and there are trees overshadowing it, and 
 water-lilies are growing in the mud ; and the whole of it is 
 covered with fine fat flies ! Ah, what a feast I have had ! " 
 And he rolled up his one eye at the thought of it. 
 
 Then all the Fish were eager to go. And now it was 
 who should be first ; every Fish was anxious to remain no 
 longer in the pool. They came to the top of the water, 
 all begging the Crane to take them to this beautiful lake. 
 
 " One at a time ! " said the Crane. " I have only one 
 beak, you know ! " And he smiled to himself, for that 
 beak was made to eat fish, not to carry them.
 
 74 The Cunning Crane and the Crab 
 
 However, it was decided that as the one-eyed Fish had 
 been so brave as to trust himself in the Crane's beak, 
 before he knew what the truth was, he certainly deserved 
 to go first. 
 
 So the Crane took the one-eyed Fish in his beak, and 
 carried him over to the lake. But this time he did not 
 drop the Fish in ; he laid him in the cleft of a tree, and 
 pecked his one eye out with his beak ; then he killed 
 him, and ate him up, and dropped his bones at the foot 
 of the tree. 
 
 By-and-by the Crane came back for another. " Now 
 then, who's next ? " asked the Crane. " Old One-eye is 
 swimming about, as happy as a king ! " He picked 
 up another fish, and served him like the first, dropping 
 his bones at the foot of the tree. 
 
 And so it went on, until in a few days the pool was 
 empty. The cunning Crane had eaten every single one 
 of the fish ! He stood on the bank, peering into every 
 hole, to see whether there might not be a little one left 
 somewhere. There was one, surely ! No, it was a 
 Crab. Never mind, he thought ; all's fish that comes 
 to my net ! 
 
 So he invited the Crab to come with him to the lake. 
 
 " Why, how are you going to carry me ? " asked the 
 Crab. 
 
 " In my beak, to be sure ! " replied the Crane. 
 
 " You might drop me," said the Crab, " and then I 
 should split." 
 
 " Oh no, I promise I won't drop you ! " said the Crane. 
 But the Crab had more sense than all the fish put 
 together, and he did not believe in the Crane's friendship
 
 The Cunning Crane and the Crab 75 
 
 at all. So he still pretended to hesitate, and at last he 
 said : 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you what. I can hold on tighter with 
 my claws than you can with your beak. I'll come, but 
 you must let me hold on to your neck with my claws. 
 Then I shall feel safe." 
 
 The Crane was so hungry that, without stopping to 
 think, he agreed ; and then the Crab got tight hold of his 
 neck with his claws, and the Crane carried him towards 
 the lake. 
 
 But after a while the Crab saw that he was being 
 carried somewhere else, indeed to that tree where the 
 Crane used to sit and eat the fish. 
 
 " Crane dear," said he, " aren't you going to put me in 
 the lake ? " 
 
 " Crane dear, indeed ! " said the Crane, " do you 
 suppose I was born to carry crabs about ? Not I ! Just 
 look at that heap of bones under yon tree ! Those are 
 the bones of the fish that used to live in your pool. I 
 ate them, and I'm going to eat you ! " 
 
 " Are you, though ! " said the Crab, and gave the 
 Crane's neck a little nip. 
 
 Then the Crane saw what a fool he had been to let a 
 Crab put a claw round his neck. He knew that the Crab 
 could kill him if he liked, and he was frightened to 
 death at the thought. People who try to deceive others 
 often pay for it themselves ; and that is what happened 
 to the Crane. 
 
 " Dear Crab ! " said he, with tears streaming from his 
 eyes, " forgive me ! I won't kill you, only let me go ! " 
 
 "Just put me in the lake, then," said the Crab.
 
 7 6 The Cunning Crane and the Crab 
 
 The Crane stepped down to the lakeside, and laid the 
 Crab upon the mud. And the Crab, as soon as he felt 
 himself safe, nipped off the Crane's head as clean as if it 
 had been cut with a knife. 
 
 So perished the treacherous Crane, caught by his own 
 trick. And the Crab lived happily in the beautiful lake 
 for the rest of his life.
 
 UNION IS STRENGTH 
 
 THERE once was a clever Fowler who used to hunt 
 quails. He could imitate the quail's note exactly ; and 
 when he had found a hiding-place, he used to sit hidden 
 in it, and call out the quail's note, until a number of 
 quails had come together ; then he threw a net over 
 them, and bagged them all. 
 
 But amongst the quails was one very clever bird, and 
 he hit on the following device : He told the quails, when 
 they felt the net drop over them, that each one should
 
 7 8 Union is Strength 
 
 pop his head through one of the meshes of the net, and 
 then at the word, away they should fly together. 
 
 All fell out as he arranged. Next day the Fowler 
 sounded his imitation of the quail's note, and the birds 
 flocked from far and near ; then, when a good many had 
 gathered in a clump within his reach, he cast the net, 
 which fell over them and made them all prisoners. They 
 all did what the wise Quail had told them ; each quail 
 put his head through one of the meshes, then at a word 
 they were all away together, bearing the net with them. 
 After some little time they saw a large bush, and dropped 
 upon this bush ; then the net was held up by the bush, 
 while all the birds got away underneath. 
 
 Again and again this happened, until the Fowler began 
 to despair ; he came home every night empty-handed, 
 and besides that he had lost ever so many nets. 
 
 Why did he keep on trying to catch them, then ? 
 Because he thought that sooner or later they would begin 
 to quarrel, and then the game would be his. 
 
 And quarrel they soon did. One Quail happened to 
 tread on another's toe. 
 
 " What are you doing, clumsy ? " said the second Quail 
 angrily. 
 
 " I'm very sorry," said the first ; " I really did not mean 
 to tread on your toe." 
 
 "You did!" 
 
 " I tell you I didn't ! " 
 
 "What a lie!" 
 
 " A lie, is it ? Hoity, toity, how high-and-mighty we 
 are, to be sure ! I suppose it is you lift up the net, all 
 by yourself, when the man throws it over us ! "
 
 Union is Strength 
 
 79 
 
 And so they went on, getting angrier and angrier. 
 And the result was, that next day, when the fowler made 
 his cast, said the first Quail to the second : 
 
 " Now then, Samson, lift away ! They say that last 
 time your feathers all fell off your head ! " 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! They say that when you tried to lift, 
 both your wings moulted ! Lift away, and let us see if it 
 is true ! " 
 
 But while they were quarrelling, and each telling the 
 other to lift the net, the Fowler lifted it for them, and 
 crammed them all together into his basket, and took 
 them home for supper.
 
 SILENCE IS GOLDEN 
 
 OXCE upon a time a Lion had a she-jackal 
 for his mate, and they had a young one, 
 This Cub was just like his sire to look at, 
 in shape and colour, mane and claws ; but in voice he 
 took after his dam. So you would fancy he was a lion, 
 so long as he held his tongue. 
 
 This Cub used to play about with the young Lions, and 
 merry times they had to be sure, tumbling head over heels, 
 and trying to knock each other down. One day, in the 
 midst of their game, the mongrel Cub thought he would 
 frighten them ; so he opened his mouth wide, intending to 
 roar, and all that came out was a yelp like the yelp of a 
 jackal. The other young Lions were quite shocked ; they
 
 Silence is Golden 
 
 81 
 
 could not imagine what strange creature this was. One 
 of them went up to the old Lion, who was watching them, 
 and said : 
 
 " Lion's claws and lion's paws 
 Lion's feet to stand upon ; 
 But the bellow of this fellow 
 Sounds not like a lion's son ! " 
 
 " You are right," said the old Lion ; " his dam was a 
 Jackal." And then, turning to the poor Cub, who was 
 looking very crestfallen, he said : 
 
 " All will see what kind you be 
 If you yelp as once before ; 
 So don't try it, but keep quiet, 
 Yours is not a lion's roar." 
 
 The poor Cub slunk away with his tail between his 
 legs, while the other Lions sniffed and turned up their 
 noses at him. Ever after that he took good care to hold 
 his tongue when he was in the company of his betters.
 
 THE GREAT YELLOW KING AND 
 HIS PORTER 
 
 ONCE upon a time, in a great and rich city, reigned a 
 mighty King, who was called by the title of the Great 
 Yellow King. This King was very cruel to his people, 
 and ground them like grist in the mill ; he robbed them 
 of their goods, many he cast into prison, others he 
 ill-treated, cutting off an arm, or a leg, or blinding them, 
 and some he put to death without cause. He was just as 
 bad at home ; when he was a boy he did nothing but tease 
 his sisters, pulling their hair and putting spiders down 
 their necks ; and now that he was grown up he made life 
 a misery to wife and child. He was like a speck of dust 
 that gets into your eye, or a thorn in the heel, or grit 
 between your teeth. 
 
 But it is a long lane that has no turning ; and at last 
 the Great Yellow King died. When a king or queen dies, 
 people are generally very sorry, and wear mourning for 
 them ; but when the Great Yellow King died there was 
 such rejoicing and merriment as had not been known for 
 many a long day. All the shops were shut, and all the
 
 The Great Yellow King and his Porter 85 
 
 schools had a whole holiday ; there were raree-shows 
 and merry-go-rounds, and everybody high and low was 
 half daft with joy. 
 
 But one man was not joyful. On the steps of the 
 palace sat the Yellow King's porter, sighing and sobbing, 
 weeping and wailing. No one could understand it ; 
 everybody in the whole town was glad, and here was this 
 porter crying ! At last some one asked him why he 
 cried. 
 
 "What is the matter?" said he. "Was the Great 
 Yellow King so kind to you as all that ? I never heard 
 of his being kind to anybody ! " 
 
 " No, it isn't that ! " sobbed the man. 
 
 " Well, what is it then ? " 
 
 The man looked up and rubbed his eyes. " Well," said 
 he, " I'll tell you. When his majesty used to come out of 
 his palace, down the steps, he always gave me a cuff on 
 the head, and another when he came back. What a fist 
 his majesty had, to be sure ! Now if he tries that game 
 on with the porter who sits by the gates of Death, I am 
 very much afraid they won't have him there at any price, 
 and then he will come back to us ! " 
 
 But the other man laughed, and said, " Don't be afraid 
 of that, Porter ! He's dead and done for, and however 
 much they wish it, they can never send him back to us 
 again." 
 
 So the Porter was comforted, and wiped his eyes, and 
 went to get a glass of beer.
 
 THE QUAIL AND 
 THE FALCON 
 
 THERE once was a young Quail that 
 lived on a farm. When the farmer 
 ploughed up the land, Quailie used to 
 hop about over the clods and pick up seeds, or weeds, or 
 worms, or anything that the plough turned up, and he ate 
 these and lived on them. 
 
 You might think this was very nice for him ; he had no 
 trouble to find food, because the ploughman turned it up ; 
 he had only to hop along after the plough and peck. 
 Not a bit of it ; he must needs better himself, as he said ; 
 so one fine day he flew away over the farm, away to the 
 forest which fringed it ; and, alighting on the ground just 
 where the forest began, he looked about to see if there was 
 anything good to eat. 
 
 Up in the air, just above the tree-tops, a Falcon was sail- 
 ing, poised on outstretched wings ; as Quailie searched for
 
 The Quail and the Falcon 87 
 
 worms, so the Falcon was searching for quails ; and lo 
 and behold, he spied one ! Down he came with a swoop 
 and a whirr, and in an instant the Quail was in his crooked 
 claws. 
 
 What could poor Quailie do now ? He twittered and 
 fluttered, and at last began to cry. 
 
 " Oh dear, oh dear ! " whimpered Quailie, the tears run- 
 ning down his beak, " what a fool I was to poach on 
 other people's preserves ! If I had only stayed at home 
 this Falcon could never have caught me, not even if he 
 had come and tried ! " 
 
 " What's that, Quailie ? " asked the Falcon. " Do you 
 think I can't catch you anywhere ? " 
 
 " Not on my own ground ! " cried the Quail. 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " 
 
 " A ploughed field full of clods." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Quailie, clods won't help you. Just try; 
 off you go ! I'll follow." 
 
 The Quail flew off, feeling as happy now as he was 
 miserable a moment gone ; and when he got back to his 
 farm he picked out a big clod and perched on the top. 
 " Come on, Falcon ! " cried he ; " come on ! " 
 
 Down came the Falcon with a swoop like a flash of 
 lightning ; but just as he came close the Quail dodged 
 him nimbly and tumbled over the clod to the other side, 
 leaving the Falcon to come full tilt against the clod of 
 earth ; and so swift was he, that the shock killed him. 
 
 So the Quail found out how much better it is for most 
 people to stick to what they are used to ; and as for the 
 Falcon, he might have thought, if he had been able to think 
 at all, that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
 
 PRIDE MUST HAVE A FALL 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a beautiful wild Goose that 
 lived in the mountains ; he was King of the Geese, and he 
 had a mate and two or three fine young ones. But it had 
 happened once that this Goose, in his travels about the 
 world, fell in with a young lady Crow, who was very 
 pretty ; as black as jet, with two eyes like black beads, 
 and she flirted and flouted so enchantingly that he had 
 married her, like the goose he was ; so he had two wives, 
 the little black Crow and the Goose. 
 
 In course of time this Crow laid a beautiful egg, all white 
 with blue spots, and twice as big as an ordinary crow's egg. 
 She was very proud of her egg, and sat on it for a longtime, 
 until one day, pop ! went the egg, and out came a funny 
 little chick. The Crow did not know what to make of 
 this chick ; he was not black, as she was, and he was not 
 white, like his father, but something betwixt and between, 
 a dingy grey with brown streaks. So she named him 
 Streaky.
 
 Pride Must Have a Fall 89 
 
 Be sure that Streaky fancied himself mightily, being so 
 very different from all the Crows he lived with ; he was 
 larger, to begin with, and then he had a very loud voice, 
 with several different notes in it ; not to mention his 
 brown streaks, which made him a proud bird indeed. 
 And I think the other Crows took him at his own price, 
 as foolish creatures are apt to do, and thought him very 
 wonderful, though he was really only a mongrel. 
 
 Now the Goose, his father, used to pay a visit to the 
 Crow colony now and again, flying down from the 
 mountains to the dust-heap where they lived, outside the 
 city gate. But he did not stay long, because the Crows 
 used to feed on offal and dead bodies, in fact anything 
 dirty they could find ; and King Goose could not get 
 what he liked to eat. 
 
 Well, once as he was talking to his sons, the young 
 Geese, they asked him why he was always going away for 
 days at a time. 
 
 " Why," said he, " I go to see a son of mine that lives 
 somewhere else." 
 
 " Oh, how nice ! " said the Geese. " Then he must be 
 our brother. Do let us bring him here on a visit ! Do, 
 father ! " 
 
 At first the father Goose would not let them go, for fear 
 of mischief ; but after a while he was persuaded, and gave 
 them very careful directions how to fly, and where to go, 
 and how to find the place where Streaky lived, on the top 
 of a tall palm-tree that grew out of a dust-heap at the 
 city gate. 
 
 So away they flew, and away they flew, till at last they 
 saw the tall palm-tree ; and on the very top of it, a big
 
 90 Pride Must Have a Fall 
 
 nest ; and in the nest, a little black Crow, and our funny 
 friend Streaky. 
 
 They said " How do you do ?" and told their errand ; 
 because they meant to go through with it now, although 
 they did not much like the look of this ugly bird Streaky, 
 with his airs and graces. Mrs. Crow was very much pleased, 
 but Streaky looked bored, and said : 
 
 "Aw, caw, I don't think I can fly all that way. It is 
 really too much trouble. Why did not the Governor 
 come to see me instead, as usual aw ? " This rude bird 
 called his father the Governor ; you see, as he had been 
 brought up among carrion crows, his manners were none 
 of the best. 
 
 The young Geese began to like him less than ever. 
 However, they put a good face on it, and answered 
 him : 
 
 " Well, Streaky, if you are as weak as all that, we will 
 carry you on a stick." 
 
 These Geese were very big, strong birds, and they 
 thought nothing of carrying Streaky. So they looked 
 about until they found a strong stick, and then each of 
 them tcok an end in his mouth, and Streaky perched in 
 the middle. They could not say good-bye to Mrs. Crow, 
 because their mouths were full of the stick, but they made 
 her a nice bow, like polite little Geese, and flew off. 
 
 As for Streaky, he was far too full of his own importance 
 to say good-bye to his mother, or even so much as " Thank 
 you " to the two birds who were so kindly carrying him. 
 There he sat, on the middle of the stick, as proud as 
 Punch, pluming his feathers, and feeling that now all the 
 world would see what a splendid bird he was.
 
 Pride Must Have a Fall 91 
 
 As they flew over the city Streaky looked down, and 
 saw the king of the city, in a beautiful carriage drawn by 
 four white thoroughbred?, driving round the city in great 
 state and grandeur. " Aha ! " thought he, " that's as it 
 should be ! But I'm every bit as good as he ! " and in his 
 joy he began to sing a little song which he made up on the 
 spur of the moment, and here is his song : 
 
 " As yonder king goes galloping with his milk-white four-in-hand, 
 Streaky has these, his pair of Geese, to carry him over the land ! " 
 
 The Geese were very angry when they heard Streaky 
 sing this song. But they were very well-bred Geese, as you 
 must have seen already ; so they said nothing at all to him 
 then, but carried him safely to their home, and then they 
 told their father what Streaky had said, so that he might 
 do as he thought best. 
 
 Old King Goose was more angry than they were, and 
 was very sorry he had left his son to be brought up by a 
 Crow who knew no manners. So he called Streaky, and 
 this is what he said : 
 
 " Streaky, you have been very rude to your brothers, 
 who are at least as good as you ; and if you think they 
 are like a pair of horses, to be driven about for your 
 pleasure, you make a great mistake. So the best thing 
 you can do is to fly back to your mother ; for your 
 manners suit the dust-heap better than the mountains." 
 
 I don't know whether Streaky was ashamed of what he 
 had said ; creatures like Streaky are very thick-skinned, 
 and it takes a great deal to make them ashamed ; but 
 anyhow he had to go back, and this time he must fly by 
 himself, for it was hardly likely that his brothers would
 
 9 2 
 
 Pride Must Have a Fall 
 
 carry him when he had been so rude. He got back a few 
 days later, tired and hungry, and spent the rest of his 
 days on the dust-heap, eating carrion. What his mother 
 thought of it all I don't know ; but King Goose never 
 went to see them any more.
 
 THE BOLD BEGGAR 
 
 THERE was once a King who was so fond of good eating 
 and drinking that they called him King Dainty. He often 
 spent as much as a thousand pounds on a single dish ; 
 which is great wastefulness, when you can dine heartily 
 for a shilling. He thought that if people could not eat 
 things so nice as his, yet they must greatly enjoy seeing 
 him eat them. So he fitted up a beautiful tent outside 
 his own door, and there he took his meals, sitting on a 
 golden throne, under a white silk umbrella. Anybody 
 who liked could see him eat his dinner without charge. 
 This was very generous, wasn't it ? 
 
 A man who had often seen him eat thought he would 
 like a taste of the King's choice food. And this is what 
 he did. 
 
 He came running towards the crowd who, as usual, 
 were watching the King eat his dinner, and shouted : 
 " News ! news ! news ! " Now at that time there were 
 no newspapers, and no posts, and no telegraphs ; so any 
 one who brought news was sure of instant hearing. 
 Accordingly the crowd made way for him at once, and he 
 ran up to the King, looking very much excited, and
 
 96 The Bold Beggar 
 
 shouting " News ! " Then he fell down before the King, 
 as if he were faint with hunger, and gasped. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " said the King. " Give him something 
 to eat." So they propped him up on a chair, and the 
 King fed him out of his own dish, and gave him delicious 
 wine to drink. The man made a hearty meal, I can tell 
 you. They thought he never would finish ; but he did 
 finish at last, after an hour or two. 
 
 Then the King said to him : " Now, my good fellow, 
 let us hear your news." 
 
 "The news is, your Majesty," said the man, "that an 
 hour ago I was hungry, and now I am not ! " 
 
 All the people looked shocked at his impertinence. 
 But the King only laughed, and said : " That news is true 
 of most of us every day of our lives. Well, you are a 
 bold fellow ; this time you may go free, but 1 advise you 
 not to try it again." 
 
 The man bowed low, and went away happy in the 
 success of his trick. I don't know whether the King 
 spent less money upon his dinner after that, but I am 
 quite sure that no one else got a meal at his table in the 
 same way.
 
 THE JACKAL 
 
 WOULD 
 . WOOING GO 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a family of Lions that lived 
 in the Himalaya Mountains in a Golden Cave. They were 
 three brothers and one sister. Near by was a silver 
 mountain with a Crystal Cave, and in this Crystal Cave 
 lived a Jackal. 
 
 The young Lions used to be out all day, hunting, while 
 their sister kept everything neat and tidy at home. When 
 they caught anything they used to keep a bit for her, 
 because they were not greedy Lions, and they thought 
 that if she did the work at home she deserved some of 
 the game they got abroad. 
 
 Now this Jackal fell violently in love with the young 
 Lioness. She was very beautiful, with soft brown fur, and 
 large soft eyes, and fine whiskers ; and he did not stop to 
 think what a mongrel cur a Jackal looks beside a Lion, 
 how small, and sneaking, and snarling ; so that it was the 
 height of impertinence even to think of such a thing. 
 
 G
 
 98 The Jackal Would A- Wooing Go 
 
 He did think of it, and more, he actually proposed to the 
 Lioness ! You shall hear how he did it. 
 
 He had the sense to wait until the three brothers had 
 gone out hunting for food ; and then he came and tapped 
 on the rock at the mouth of the Golden Cave. The 
 Lioness looked out, and very much surprised was the 
 Lioness to see the Jackal there. She knew him by sight, of 
 course, as a neighbour ; and, indeed, when he was in his 
 Crystal Cave you could always see him, perched up in the 
 air as it might be ; for you can see through crystal like glass, 
 and it looked just as if there were nothing there. But they 
 were not on visiting terms, so the Lioness was surprised to 
 see him come tapping at her door. She gave him a distant 
 bow, and waited. 
 
 " Beautiful Lioness ! " said he, " I love you ! see how 
 much we are alike ! You have four feet, and so have I ; 
 clearly we are made for one another. Will you marry 
 me ? We shall be so happy together ! " 
 
 This offer so astonished the Lioness that she could say 
 nothing. She hated the vile creature, vilest of all crea- 
 tures ; that he should dare to address himself to a royal 
 lioness ! a scavenger to a queen ! The very thought of 
 the insult made her furious. She resolved that, after such 
 a thing as that had spoken to her, she might just as well 
 die, either by holding her breath or by starving herself. 
 As these thoughts passed through her mind the Jackal 
 was waiting for his answer ; but no answer he got. This 
 seemed a pretty broad hint that he was not wanted there ; 
 so he went home again, very woebegone, with his tail 
 between his legs, and lay down in his Crystal Cave in 
 much misery.
 
 The Jackal Would a- Wooing Go 99 
 
 By-and-by the eldest brother of the Lioness came home 
 again, with a fine fat deer which he had killed. " Here, 
 sister," he called out, " have a bit ! " 
 
 She put on a very gloomy air. " No," she said, " I 
 think I shall have to die." 
 
 " Why, what on earth is the matter ? " asked he. 
 
 "A nasty, dirty Jackal came, and wanted to marry me ! " 
 
 " The brute ! " said her brother. " Where is he ? " 
 
 " Can't you see him, lying up in the sky ? " You know 
 the crystal was transparent, and as she had never been 
 there she could not tell he was really in a cave. 
 
 Off galloped the young Lion, furious with rage, and 
 when he got near the place where the Jackal was lying in 
 his Crystal Cave, he leaped at him, when crack ! went his 
 skull against the wall of crystal, and down fell the Lion 
 dead! 
 
 Just as the Lioness was getting anxious about her eldest 
 brother, the second came in. She told him the same 
 tale, though she was beginning to be sorry that she was 
 going to die. He had not hurt her, after all ; and how 
 nice the meat smelt ! But the second Lion did not give 
 her much time to think ; he growled, and off he went, 
 leaped into the air, cracked his crown against the wall of 
 crystal, and fell down dead beside his brother. 
 
 Now when the third brother came in, the Lioness was 
 quite sure she didn't mean to die. However, she looked 
 as gloomy as ever, and told her brother what had 
 happened ; he had better go out and see what was 
 become of the other two. Surely two Lions were a 
 match for any Jackal ! Still, there he was, as before, up 
 in the air.
 
 too The Jackal Would a^ Wooing Go 
 
 " Up in the air ? " said the youngest brother, who was 
 cleverer than all the rest put together. " Stuff and 
 nonsense ! Now let me think. There must be something 
 for him to lie upon ; and yet you can see through it." 
 He scratched his head with one paw and looked wise. 
 
 " I have it ! Crystal, of course, or glass that's what it 
 is ! " So up he jumped, and when he got near the 
 Crystal Cave, there were his two brothers, dead, with 
 their skulls cracked right across like a teacup. 
 
 He sat down again, and scratched his head with the 
 other paw. " H'm ! it looks as though it may be difficult 
 to get at this Jackal. However, I'll try kindness first. 
 Jackie, Jackie dear ! " he called out.
 
 The Jackal Would a^ Wooing Go 101 
 
 Now you must know that Lions have a very loud voice, 
 and, if you have heard them talking in the Zoo, you will 
 know that even when they want to coax and purr they 
 are enough to frighten you. And so the poor Jackal, 
 who, after all, was not so bad as the proud Lioness made 
 out, when he heard the Lion coaxing him down, thought 
 "What an awful roar!" His heart was beating very 
 hard before, but this time it gave such a leap that some- 
 thing went snap ! And the Jackal was dead too. 
 
 Then the Lion looked up, and saw that the Jackal was 
 dead. So he buried his brothers, and went and told his 
 sister all about it. You might expect her to be sorry that 
 her two brave brothers were dead, all because she held 
 her nose so high in the air ; but not a bit of it ; she was 
 quite satisfied so long as one was left to catch food for 
 her. So she lived all the rest of her life in the Golden 
 Cave, but I never heard that any other animal asked her 
 to marry him.
 
 THE LION AND THE BOAR 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a Lion who lived in the 
 mountains, and he used to drink water out of a beautiful 
 lake. It so happened that, as he was drinking there one 
 day, he saw a Boar feeding over on the opposite bank. 
 Now he had just eaten a leg of elephant, and was not 
 hungry ; but he made a note of that Boar, thinking to 
 himself what a nice meal the Boar would make some other 
 day. So, after drinking his fill, he crawled quietly away 
 through the bushes, hoping that the Boar could not see 
 him. But the Boar had sharp eyes, and did see him. 
 " Hullo ! " said he to himself, '* yon Lion is afraid of me, 
 that's clear ! Ah well, he need not think to get off so 
 easy. If he wants to go, he must fight me first ! " He 
 puffed his chest out very big, and rubbed his tusks against 
 a tree, then he called out : 
 
 " Stay, stay, runaway ! 
 Let us have a fight to-day ! 
 You have four feet, so have I ! 
 If you fail, you can but try ! "
 
 The Lion and the Boar 103 
 
 The Lion could hardly believe his ears. What ! a 
 Boar challenge him to fight ! He could break a Boar's 
 back with a tap of his paw. Still, he hid his astonishment 
 at this impertinent Boar and only said : 
 
 " Please, Mr. Boar, let me off to-day, as I'm rather 
 tired ; I have just been wrestling with a fox. But, if you 
 like, I will meet you here this day week, and then we can 
 fight it out between us." 
 
 He said this so humbly that the Boar became haughtier 
 than ever. " Oh, very well," said he, " it shall never be 
 said I took a mean advantage of any one. This day 
 week, then ! Good-day to you." 
 
 When he got home, his friends hardly knew him. 
 Every bristle on his back was standing up straight ; his 
 little greedy eyes were gleaming ; he ran into the house, 
 knocking over the pots and pans, snarling at his wife, and 
 making himself very disagreeable indeed. At last the 
 other Boars protested, and said they would not stand it 
 any longer. "Oho!" says he, "you defy a Boar that 
 has killed a Lion ! Come on, then ! " and very fierce 
 indeed he looked. 
 
 Killed a Lion ! They did open their eyes. " Where is 
 the Lion you have killed ? " asked a pretty little sow, full 
 of curiosity. 
 
 " Well, I haven't exactly killed him yet," said the Boar 
 rather unwillingly. " He is coming to be killed this day 
 week." 
 
 " What on earth do you mean ? " his friends asked. 
 He told them the story, but he did not feel quite so bold 
 now as he had felt before. And when he finished, he 
 felt worse than ever ; for one and all they set up such a
 
 104 The Lion and the Boar 
 
 weeping and wailing that the whole forest resounded with 
 it ! " Oh dear, oh dear ! " they cried, " you'll be the 
 death of us ! Kill a Lion ? Why, he will crunch you up 
 in a trice, and then he'll come here, and we are all dead 
 Boars ! " 
 
 By this time the poor Boar had lost all his conceit ; 
 you see he was an ignorant Boar, and did not know at all 
 what the strength of a Lion is. So his heart was down in 
 his toes, and all he wanted now was some way out of the 
 mischief. Nobody could think of a way, until one very 
 old and wise Boar advised him to roll in the mud till he 
 was very dirty, because Lions are clean beasts and do not 
 like dirt. 
 
 So every day he rolled and wallowed in the dirtiest 
 places he could find ; and by the appointed time he was 
 like a big cake of dirt. So when he came to the lake 
 where he was to meet the Lion, the wind took a whiff of 
 him to the Lion, and the Lion gave a jump, and snuffed, 
 and sneezed, and swished his tail, and cried out, " Get to 
 leeward, get to leeward ! Here's a pretty trick ! Well, 
 you have saved your life ; I would not touch you with a 
 pair of tongs now ! " and, in great disgust he went away, 
 saying, as he went, this little rhyme : 
 
 " Dirty Boar, I want no more, 
 
 You're saved from being eaten ; 
 If you would fight, I yield me quite, 
 And own that I am beaten ! " 
 
 You may be sure that our friend the Boar did not wait 
 any longer, but scampered off home. But when he got 
 there, I am sorry to say he told all his friends he had
 
 The Lion and the Boar 105 
 
 beaten the Lion, and the Lion had run away ! He cer- 
 tainly had beaten the Lion in one way, but not in fair fight, 
 so it was rather mean to pretend he had. However, no- 
 body believed him, and the colony of Boars thought the 
 best thing they could do was to get away from that 
 place as fast as their four legs could carry them. " If he is 
 beaten," said they with a wink, "still, after all, he is a 
 Lion."
 
 THE GOBLIN CITY 
 
 LONG, long ago, in the island of Ceylon, there was a large 
 city full of nothing but Goblins. They were all She- 
 goblins, too ; and if they wanted husbands, they used to 
 get hold of travellers and force them to marry ; and 
 afterwards, when they were tired of their husbands, they 
 gobbled them up. 
 
 One day a ship was wrecked upon the coast near the 
 goblin city, and five hundred sailors were cast ashore. 
 The She-goblins came down to the seashore, and brought 
 food and dry clothes for the sailors, and invited them to 
 come into the city. There was nobody else there at all ; 
 but for fear that the sailors should be frightened away, 
 the Goblins, by their magic power, made shapes of 
 people appear all around, so that there seemed to be men 
 ploughing in the fields, or shepherds tending their sheep, 
 and huntsmen with hounds, and all the sights of the quiet 
 country life. So, when the sailors looked round, and saw 
 everything as usual, they felt quite secure ; although, as 
 you know, it \vas all a sham. 
 
 The end of it was, that they persuaded the sailors to
 
 The Goblin City 107 
 
 marry them, telling them that their own husbands had 
 gone to sea in a ship, and had been gone these three 
 years, so that they must be drowned and lost for ever. 
 But really, as you know, they had served others in just 
 the same way, and their last batch of husbands were then 
 in prison, waiting to be eaten. 
 
 In the middle of the night, when the men were all 
 asleep, the She-goblins rose up, put on their hats, and 
 hurried down to the prison ; there they killed a few men, 
 and gnawed their flesh, and ate them up ; and after this 
 orgie they went home again. It so happened that the 
 captain of the sailors woke up before his wife came home, 
 and riot seeing her there, he watched. By-and-by in 
 she came ; he pretended to be asleep, and looked out of 
 the tail of his eye. She was still munching and crunch- 
 ing, and as she munched she muttered : 
 
 " Man's meat, man's meat, 
 That's what Goblins like to eat ! " 
 
 She said it over and over again, then lay down ; and 
 soon she was snoring loudly. 
 
 The captain was horribly frightened to find he had 
 married a Goblin. What was he to do ? They could 
 not fight with Goblins, and they were in the Goblins' 
 power. If they had a ship they might have sailed away, 
 because Goblins hate the water worse than a cat ; but 
 their ship was gone. He could think of nothing. 
 
 However, next morning, he found a chance of telling 
 his mates what he had discovered. Some of them 
 believed him, and some said he must have been dreaming ; 
 they were sure their wives would not do such a thing.
 
 io8 The Goblin City 
 
 Those who believed him agreed that they would look out 
 for a chance of escape. 
 
 But there was a kind fairy who hated those Goblins ; 
 and she determined to save the men. So she told her 
 flying horse to go and carry them away. And accordingly, 
 as the men were out for a walk next day, the captain saw 
 in the air a beautiful horse with large white and gold 
 wings. The horse fluttered down, and hovered just 
 above them, crying out, in a human voice : 
 
 " Who wants to go home ? who wants to go home ? 
 who wants to go home ? " 
 
 " I do, I do ! " called out the sailors. 
 
 " Climb up, then ! " said the horse, dropping within 
 reach. So one climbed up, and then another, and 
 another ; and, although the horse looked no bigger than 
 any other horse, there was room for everybody on his 
 back. I think that somehow, when they got up, the 
 fairy made them shrink small, till they were no bigger than 
 so many ants, and thus there was plenty of room for all. 
 When all who wanted to go had got up on his back, 
 away flew the beautiful horse and took them safely 
 home. 
 
 As for those who remained behind, that very night the 
 Goblins set upon them and mangled them, and munched 
 them to mincemeat.
 
 LACKNOSE 
 
 THERE was once a Gardener who had no nose, and he 
 had a very nice garden full of beautiful flowers : roses, 
 and pinks, and lilies, and violets, and all the prettiest 
 flowers you can imagine. 
 
 Three little boys thought they would like a bunch of 
 flowers, but they did not know how to get it. So one 
 of them went into the garden and said : 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Lacknose ! " 
 
 " Good morning, boy," said the Gardener. 
 
 The boy thought the best thing he could do was to 
 flatter the old fellow, so he had made up a verse of poetry 
 that he thought very pretty, and so he said to the 
 Gardener : 
 
 " Cut, and cut, and cut again, 
 Hair and whiskers grow amain : 
 And your nose will grow like these : 
 Give me a little posy, please ! " 
 
 The Gardener knew very well that his nose would not 
 grow again like his whiskers, and he thought the little 
 boy rather rude to mention it ; so he became angry.
 
 1 1 2 Lacknose 
 
 " Go away ! " said he, " and get your posy somewhere 
 else ! " 
 
 The boy went away disappointed ; but the second boy 
 thought he would try his luck too. Perhaps the first boy 
 had not spoken nicely ; and he had made a verse of 
 poetry too, which he thought would just suit the old 
 Gardener. So in he came with " Good morning, Mr. 
 Lacknose ! " 
 
 "Good morning, boy," said the old man. "And 
 what do you want ? " 
 
 Then the boy put on a coaxing smile, and said : 
 
 " In the autumn seeds are sown, 
 And ere long they're fully grown ; 
 May your nose sprout up like these ! 
 Give me a little posy, please ! " 
 
 " There ! " he thought, " the old fellow will like that, 
 because he is a Gardener." But not a bit of it ! The 
 Gardener saw through his trick, and was angrier than 
 ever. 
 
 " Be off !" said he, "or I'll be after you with a stick ! 
 Plant a nose, indeed ! You had better go somewhere 
 and learn manners before you ask for my flowers ! " 
 
 So the second boy went away faster than the first. 
 
 But the third boy was an honest little boy, and knew 
 that there is nothing like the truth ; so he determined to 
 try what truth could do. He walked modestly into the 
 garden and said : 
 
 " Good morning, sir ! " 
 
 " What, another of 'em ! " growled the Gardener to 
 himself. " Another pack of lies, I suppose ! " He would
 
 Lacknose 1 1 3 
 
 But the boy, nothing daunted, 
 
 hardly look at the boy. 
 repeated his verse : 
 
 " Babbling fools ! to think that they 
 Can get a posy in this way ! 
 Say they yes, or say they no, 
 Noses cut no more will grow. 
 See, I ask you honestly : 
 Give a posy, sir, to me ! " 
 
 The Gardener was so pleased to find a straightforward 
 and honest little boy, that he took his scissors and cut a 
 most beautiful bunch of flowers, which he gave the boy 
 with a smile. The boy said, "Thank you, sir, very 
 much ! " and went away delighted.
 
 THE KING'S LESSON 
 
 ONCE upon a time there lived a very good King, whose 
 name was Godfrey. Of course, when a man is King, 
 everybody is ready to call him good ; but this King really 
 was good. He used to hold courts of justice for people to 
 come to when they had a quarrel ; and he decided all the 
 cases so wisely that nobody durst bring an unjust cause 
 before him. So after a while the result was, that the courts 
 became empty ; all the rustle and bustle was quiet, the 
 wigs and gowns were hung up on pegs, and as dusty as 
 dusty could be ; and nobody had any quarrels at all. 
 
 " What a blessing ! " thought King Godfrey to himself. 
 " Now we have a little peace. And they say it's all my 
 doing ! I wonder if I am really as good as people make 
 me out. Suppose I try to see ? " No sooner said than 
 done with this King. He asked one and he asked another ; 
 he begged and prayed them to tell him of his faults, so 
 that he might mend them ; but no, they said they really 
 could not tell him of his faults, when he had none to tell 
 of. He tried in the palace, he tried in the city ; high and 
 low, to and fro, it was just the same : all praise and no 
 blame.
 
 The King's Lesson 117 
 
 " Well, upon my word," thought the King, " I had no 
 idea I was such a good fellow. Still, who knows what 
 they say behind my back ? Happy thought ! I'll disguise 
 myself, and that will soon show me the truth." So he 
 dressed himself like a traveller, and got a carriage and 
 pair, and drove all over the country, asking everybody 
 what they thought of the King. Wonder of wonders ! 
 they said the same behind his back as they did to his 
 face ! That must have been a very nice country to live 
 in, but I am sure I cannot tell where it is. 
 
 Now in such a strange country as that, strange things 
 will happen ; and so it turned out that, as our King was 
 driving along, he came to a narrow lane sunk between 
 two steep banks, with only just room for the carriage ; 
 and right in the middle of this lane another carriage met 
 him. There they stood, both of them, and neither would 
 budge. Our King did not know who was in that carriage, 
 but I will tell you who it was. This was the King of the 
 next country, who was also a good king as kings go, though 
 not so good as the first ; and he had got the same idea 
 into his head, that he would wander about in disguise, 
 and find out what people thought of him. Everybody 
 had a good word for him too, it seems ; but if he found 
 no one to pick faults in him before, here was one now, as 
 you shall see. 
 
 " Get out of the way ! " said the driver of the other 
 carriage. 
 
 " Get out of the way yourself ! " said King Godfrey's 
 man. " I have a King inside," said he ; you see, he knew 
 who the disguised traveller was, and he thought there was 
 no need to hide it now, when it might save him trouble.
 
 u8 The King's Lesson 
 
 " If you have one King, I have another ! " said the other 
 man ; and imagine how astonished King Godfrey's coach- 
 man was to hear that. 
 
 " Oh dear, oh dear," he said, " what is to be done ? 
 Both Kings ! Haw old is your King ? " he added 
 suddenly, hoping, you see, that the younger might be 
 willing to give way. 
 
 " Fifty." 
 
 " Fifty ! So is mine ! And how rich is he ? " 
 
 But it turned out they were just the same in that 
 point ; and though he cudgelled his brains to find out 
 some difference, there seemed to be none ; their kingdoms 
 were exactly the same size, with exactly the same number 
 of people in them, and their ancestors had been just as 
 brave and glorious in peace or war. In fact, they were 
 as like as two peas in a pod. 
 
 All this time the horses were champing their bits and 
 pawing the ground, as if they would like to jump over 
 each other's heads ; and I daresay the Kings were getting 
 impatient too, though they were much too dignified to 
 say anything. And there they might have stayed till 
 doomsday, but that King Godfrey's coachman hit on a 
 fine idea. He suggested that perhaps one of them was a 
 better King than the other ; what were his master's virtues, 
 would the other coachman kindly tell him ? 
 
 The other coachman had his answer all ready, in poetry 
 too, and this it was : 
 
 " Rough to the rough, my mighty King the mild with mildness sways, 
 Masters the good by goodness, and the bad with badness pays : 
 Give place, give place, O driver ! such are this monarch's ways ! " 
 
 "H'm," said King Godfrey's driver, "tit for tat is all
 
 The King's Lesson 119 
 
 very well, but I shouldn't call it virtue to pay out a bad 
 man in his own coin." 
 
 " Oh, well," says the other in a huff, " you can call it 
 vice if you like ; and I should be very glad to hear all 
 your King's virtues, if you laugh at mine ! " 
 
 "Certainly," said King Godfrey's coachman; and, not 
 to be beaten, he did his answer into poetry, like the 
 other : 
 
 " He conquers wrath by mildness, the bad with goodness sways, 
 By gifts the miser vanquishes and lies with truth repays. 
 Give place, give place, O driver ! such are this monarch's ways ! " 
 
 Then the other man felt he had met his match. " I can't 
 cap that," said he; "your master'is better than mine." 
 And the new King, who had not said a word all this time, 
 thought it was time to be moving ; perhaps he had been 
 asleep ; anyhow, he was not at all angry with his coach- 
 man, but out he got, and they let the horses loose, and 
 pulled the carriage up on the slope to let King Godfrey 
 pass by. But King Godfrey, before he went on, gave the 
 other King a little good advice, which the King promised to 
 take ; for in that strange country people used to follow 
 good advice sometimes. And then they said " Good-bye," 
 and both went back home again, and both of them ruled 
 their countries well until they died. The other King, we 
 may be sure, was all the better for that lesson ; and I 
 hope Godfrey did not become conceited in that strange 
 country, as he would have been if he lived here with us. 
 
 1 N I S
 
 MR. DAVID NUTT'S LIST OF 
 
 GIFT-BOOKS FOR CHILDREN OF ALL 
 
 AGES, for the most part fully illustrated by leading 
 artists in black and white, sumptuously printed on 
 specially made paper, bound in attractive and original 
 covers, and sold at the lowest price consistent with 
 equitable remuneration to authors and artists, and 
 beauty and durability of get up. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FAIRY TALES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 WORKS BY HIS HONOUR JUDGE E. A. PARRY. 
 
 WORKS BY MRS. RADFORD. 
 
 WORKS ILLUSTRATED BY MISS WINIFRED SMITH. 
 WORKS BY MRS. LEIGHTON, ASBJORNSEN, ETC. 
 
 All works in the present list may be had post free from the 
 Publisher at the annexed prices, and are kept on sale by the leading 
 booksellers of the United Kingdom, 
 i
 
 "The Ideal Gift=Books of the Season." 
 FAIRY TALES OF THE 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 Collected and Edited by JOSEPH JACOBS. 
 Illustrated by J. D. BATTEN. 
 
 MR. JACOBS' FAIRY TALES, which have been appear- 
 ing since 1890, have won immediate and widespread 
 acceptance. The choice of matter, the simplicity and 
 suitable character of the language of the text, the beauty, humour, 
 and charm of Mr. BATTEN'S illustrations, and the large and 
 legible type, have commended the series alike to children and to 
 lovers of art; whilst the prefaces and elaborate notes, parallels, 
 and references added by the Editor, have made them indispens- 
 able to the increasingly large portion of the public interested in 
 the history and archaeology of popular fiction. 
 
 " Fairy Tales of the British Empire " are to be had in two 
 forms, at 35. 6d. and at 6s. a volume. 
 
 In so far as Tales and Illustrations are concerned, the 35. 6d. 
 Edition will be the same as the original 6s. one. But the Editor's 
 Prefaces, Notes, Parallels, and References are omitted. 
 
 A full list of the Series, a specimen of Mr. BATTEN'S beautiful 
 Illustrations, and a very small selection from the numberless kindly 
 notices which the Press has bestowed upon the Series, will be 
 found on the following pages.
 
 Fairy Tales of the British Empire. 
 
 English Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 255 pages, 9 
 full-page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in the text. 
 Designed Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s. 
 
 The same. Children's Edition, viii., 227 pages, 7 full- 
 page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in text. Cloth, Cut. 
 3S. 6d. 
 
 More English Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 243 pages, 
 8 full-page, and numerous Illustrations in text. Designed 
 Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s. 
 
 The same. Children's Edition, viii., 214 pages, 7 full- 
 page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in text. Cloth, Cut. 
 3S. 6d. 
 
 Celtic Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 274 pages, 8 full- 
 page Plates, numerous Illustrations in text. Designed Cloth 
 Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s. 
 
 The same. Children's Edition, viii., 236 pages, 7 full-page 
 Plates and numerous Illustrations in text. Cloth, Cut. 35. 6d. 
 
 More Celtic Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 234 pages, 
 8 full-page Plates, numerous Illustrations in text. Designed 
 Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s. 
 
 The same. Children's Edition, viii., 217 pages, 7 full- 
 page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in text. Cloth, Cut. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 Indian Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 255 pages, 9 full- 
 page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in text. Designed 
 Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s. 
 No Children's Edition of the " Indian Fairy Tales " 
 will be issued for the present. 
 
 N.B. A few copies of the Japanese Vellum Issues, printed in 
 large 8vo, with double state of the plates, are still to be had of 
 Indian, More Celtic, and More English Fairy Tales. Prices may 
 be learnt on application to the Publisher. The special issues of 
 English and Celtic Fairy Tales, entirely out of print, command a 
 heavy premium. 
 
 3
 
 Specimen of Mr. Batten's full-page Illustrations to " Fairy Tales 
 of the British Empire." 
 
 4
 
 Some {press IFlotices 
 
 OF 
 
 JACOBS' AND BATTEN'S FAIRY TALES. 
 
 English Fairy Tales. 
 
 Daily Graphic. "As a collection of fairy tales to delight children of all 
 ages, ranks second to none." Globe. "A delight alike to the young people 
 and their elders." England. "A most delightful volume of fairytales." 
 Daily News. "A more desirable child's book . . . has not been seen for 
 many a day." Athenaum. " From first to last, almost without exception, 
 these stories are delightful." E. S. HARTLAND. "The most delightful 
 book of fairy tales, taking form and contents together, ever presented to 
 children. ' ' Miss THACKERAY. " This delightful book." Review of Reviews. 
 " Nothing could be more fascinating." 
 
 Celtic Fairy Tales. 
 
 Scotsman. " One of the best books of stories ever put together." Free- 
 man's Journal. "An admirable selection." Ariel. "Delightful stories, 
 exquisite illustrations by John D. Batten, and learned notes." Daily 
 Telegraph. " A stock of delightful little narratives." Daily Chronicle." A 
 charming volume skilfully illustrated." Pall Mall Budget. "A perfectly 
 lovely book. And oh! the wonderful pictures inside." Liverpool Daily 
 Post. " The best fairy book of the present season. " Oban Times. " Many 
 a mother will bless Mr. Jacobs, and many a door will be open to him from 
 Land's End to John o' Groat's." 
 
 More English Fairy Tales. 
 
 Aihmceum. "Will become more popular with children than its prede- 
 cessor." Notes and Queries. "Delightful and in every respect worthy of 
 its predecessor." Glasgow Herald. " A more delightful collection of fairy 
 tales could hardly be wished for." Glasgow Evening News. "The new 
 volume of ' English Fairy Tales ' is worthy of the one that went before, 
 and this is really saying a great deal." 
 
 More Celtic Fairy Tales. 
 
 Daily Chronicle. "A bright exemplar of almost all a fairy-tale book 
 should be." Saturday Review. " Delightful for reading and profitable for 
 comparison." Notes and Queries. "A delightful companion into a land of 
 enchantment." Irish Daily Independent. " Full of bold and beautiful illus- 
 trations." North British Daily Mail. "The stories are admirable, and 
 nothing could be better in their way than the designs." News of the World. 
 " Mr. Batten has a real genius for depicting fairy folk." - 
 
 Indian Fairy Tales. 
 
 Dublin Daily Express. " Unique and charming anthology." Daily News. 
 "Good for the schoolroom and the study." Stay. " Illustrated with a 
 charming freshness of fancy." Gloucester Journal. " A book which is some- 
 thing more than a valuable addition to folk-lore ; a book for the student as 
 well as for the child." Scotsman. "Likely to prove a perfect success." 
 Literary World." Admirably grouped, and very enjoyable."
 
 WORKS BY HIS HONOUR 
 JUDGE EDWARD ABBOTT PARRY. 
 
 Illustrated by ARCHIE MACGREGOR. 
 
 THE issue of Katawampus : its Treatment and Cure, in the 
 Christmas Season of 1895, revealed a writer for children 
 who, in originality, spontaneity, and fulness of humour 
 as well as in sympathy with and knowledge of childhood, may be 
 compared, and not to his disadvantage, with Lewis Carroll. And, 
 as is the case with " Alice in Wonderland," an illustrator was 
 found whose sympathy with his author and capacity for rendering 
 his conceptions have won immediate and widespread recognition, 
 A specimen of the illustrations and a small selection from the press 
 notices will be found overleaf. 
 
 KATAWAMPUS : its Treatment and Cure. Second Edition. 
 96 pages, Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 BUTTER- SCOTIA, or, a Cheap Trip to Fairy Land. 180 pages. 
 Map of Butter-Scotia, many Full-page Plates and Illustrations 
 in the Text. Bound in specially designed Cloth Cover. 6s. 
 
 KATAWAMPUS KANTICLES. Music by Sir J. F. BRIDGE, 
 Mus. Doc., Organist of Westminster Abbey. Words by His 
 Honour Judge E. A. PARRY. Illustrated Cover, representing 
 Kapellmeister Krab, by ARCHIE MACGREGOR. Royal 8vo, 
 Is. 
 
 For Christmas 1897. 
 
 THE FIRST BOOK OF KRAB. Christmas Stories for 
 Children of all Ages. 132 pages, with many Full-page Plates 
 and Illustrations in the Text. Bound in specially designed 
 Cloth Cover. 3s. 6d. 
 
 6
 
 KAT A WAMPUS: ITS TREATMENT AND CURE. 
 
 By His Honour Judge E. A. PARRY. 
 
 Illustrated by ARCHIE MACGREGOR. 
 Second Edition, Cloth, 33. 6d. 
 
 press -Notices. 
 
 " One of the very best books of the season." The World. 
 
 "A very delightful and original book." Review of Reviews. 
 
 " The book is one of rare drollery, and the verses and pictures 
 are capital of their kind." Saturday Review. 
 
 "We strongly advise both parents and children to read the 
 book. " Guardian. 
 
 " A truly delightful little book. . . ."Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " A tale full of jinks and merriment." Daily Chronicle. 
 
 "The brightest, wittiest, and most logical fairy-tale we have 
 read for a long time." Westminster Gazette. 
 
 "Its fun is of the sort that children revel in and ' grown-ups ' 
 also relish, so spontaneous and irresistible is it." 
 
 ^Manchester Guardian. 
 
 " A delightful extravaganza of the ' Wonderland ' type, but by 
 no means a slavish imitation." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " Since ' Alice in Wonderland ' there has not been a book more 
 calculated to become a favourite in the nursery." Baby. 
 
 GOT HIM THIS TIME
 
 THE BOOK OF WONDER VOYAGES. 
 
 Edited with Introduction and Notes by JOSEPH JACOBS. 
 Illustrated by J. D. BATTEN. 
 
 Square demy 8vo, sumptuously printed in large clear type on 
 specially manufactured paper, at the Ballantyne Press. With 
 Photogravure Frontispiece, and many Full-page Illustrations 
 and Designs in the Text. Specially designed Cloth Cover, 6s. 
 
 Contents. The Argonauts The Voyage of Maelduin The 
 Journeyings of Hasan of Bassorah to the Islands of Wak-Wak 
 How Thorkill went to the Under World and Eric the Far- 
 Travelled to Paradise. 
 
 This, the latest of the volumes in which Mr. Jacobs and Mr. 
 Batten have collaborated with such admirable results, will be 
 welcomed as heartily as its predecessors by the children of the 
 English-speaking world. A specimen of Mr. Batten's illustration 
 is appended.
 
 WORKS ILLUSTRATED ET MISS WINIFRED 
 SMITH, Silver and Gold Medallist^ South Kensington^ 
 Winner of the Princess of Wales'' Prize^ etc. etc. 
 
 CHILDREN'S SINGING GAMES, with the Tunes 
 
 to which they are Sung. Collected and Edited by ALICE 
 BERTHA GOMME. Pictured in Black and White by WINIFRED 
 SMITH. Two Series, each 35. 6d. 
 
 Charming albums in small oblong 
 4to, printed on antique paper and 
 bound in specially designed cloth 
 cover, and serving equally for the nur- 
 sery, the schoolroom, and the drawing- 
 room. Mrs. Gomme, the first living 
 authority on English games, has care- 
 fully chosen the finest and most inter- 
 esting of the old traditional singing 
 games, has provided accurate text and 
 music, has given precise directions for 
 playing, and added notes pointing out 
 the historical interests of these survivals 
 of old world practices. The humour, 
 spirit, and grace of Miss Winifred 
 Smith's drawings may be sufficiently 
 gauged from the annexed specimens 
 and from the following press notices. 
 
 Some press IRotices of " CbU&ren's 
 Singing (Barnes." 
 
 Baby." A delightful gift for little boys 
 and girls. . . . Cannot fail to become quickly 
 popular." 
 
 Journal of Education. " Most charmingly 
 illustrated." 
 
 Saturday Review. "A truly fascinating 
 book. . . . It is hopeless to make a choice 
 which is best. The traditional rhymes and 
 music, so quaintly and prettily illustrated, 
 with moreover so much humour and go in 
 all the designs, are charming." 
 
 Scotsman. " The pictures must please any- 
 body who can appreciate delicate humour." 
 
 Bookman. " The designs are witty, pretty, 
 and effective." 
 
 Sylvia's jfournal."The illustrations are 
 charming."
 
 NURSERY SONGS AND RHYMES OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Pictured in Black and White by WINIFRED SMITH. Small 
 4to. Printed on hand-made paper. In specially designed 
 cloth cover, 33. 6d. 
 
 Some press "notices of "Hursere Songs an> TRbgnies." 
 
 Literary World." Delightfully illustrated." 
 
 Athenanm. ".Very cleverly drawn and humorous designs." 
 
 Manchester Guardian. " All the designs are very apt and suited to the 
 comprehension of a child." 
 
 Scotsman. " The designs are full of grace and fun, and give the book an 
 artistic value not common in nursery literature." 
 
 Globe. "The drawings are distinctly amusing and sure to delight 
 children." 
 
 Star." Really a beautiful book. . . . Winifred Smith has revelled into 
 old rhymes, and young and old alike will in their turn revel in the results 
 of her artistic revelry." 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. "No book of nursery rhymes has charmed us so 
 much." 
 
 Magazine of Art. " Quite a good book of its kind." 
 
 Woman. "Miss Smith's drawings are now celebrated and are indeed 
 very beautiful, decorative, and full of naive humour." 
 10
 
 WORKS BT MRS. ERNEST RADFORD. 
 
 SONGS FOR SOMEBODY. Verses by DOLLIE 
 
 RADFORD. Pictures by GERTRUDE BRADLEY. Square 
 crown 8vo. Six plates printed in colour by EDMUND 
 EVANS, and 36 designs in monochrome. Coloured cover 
 by Louis DAVIS. 35. 6d. 
 
 GOOD NIGHT. Verses by DOLLIE RADFORD. 
 
 Designs by Louis DAVIS. Forty pages entirely designed by 
 the artist and pulled on the finest and the thickest cartridge 
 paper. Boards and canvas back with label, 23. 6d. 
 Some press notices. 
 
 Daily Chronicle. " As far as we know no one elbe sings quite like Mrs. 
 Radford ; hers is a bird's note thin, high, with a sweet thrill in it, and the 
 thrill is a home thrill, a nest thrill." 
 
 Commonwealth. " We have read with pure enjoyment Mrs. Radford's 
 slight but charming cycle of rhymes." 
 
 Star. "A tender spirit of motherhood inspires Mrs. Radford's simple 
 little songs." 
 
 Review of Reviews. "Very charming poems for children not unworthy 
 even to be mentioned in the same breath with Stevenson's ' Child's Garden 
 of Verses.' " 
 
 Athenceum. " ' Good Night ' is one of the daintiest little books we have 
 seen for years. The verses are graceful and pretty, and the illustrations 
 excellent. It will please both young and old." 
 
 Literary World. " Charming little songs of childhood." 
 
 New Age. " Mrs. Radford is closely in touch with a child's mind, and 
 her ideal child is a nice, soft, loving little creature whom we all want lo 
 caress in our arms." 
 
 Artist. " Since Blake died never has a book been produced which can 
 so truly be described as a labour of love to the artist as ' Good Night.' " 
 
 MEDIEVAL LEGENDS. Being a Gift-Book to 
 
 the Children of England, of Five Old-World Tales from 
 France and Germany. Demy 8vo. Designed cloth cover, 
 3 s. 6d. 
 
 Contents. The Mysterious History of Melusina The Story of 
 ^sop The Rhyme of the Seven Swabians The Sweet and 
 Touching Tale of Fleur and Blanchefleur The Wanderings of 
 Duke Ernest. 
 
 Some press flotices. 
 
 Saturday Review. "A capital selection of famous legends." 
 Times. " There can be no question as to the value of this gift." 
 Morning Post. " Full of romantic incident, of perilous adventure by land 
 and sea. ' ' 
 
 Guardian. " This delightful volume. . . . In all respects admirable. " 
 World." An elegant and tasteful volume."
 
 THE HAPPY PRINCE, and other Tales. By OSCAR 
 
 WILDE. 1 1 6 pages, small 4to. Beautifully printed in old- 
 faced type, on cream-laid paper, with wide margins. Bound 
 in Japanese vellum cover, printed in red and black. With 
 three full-page Plates by WALTER CRANE, and eleven 
 Vignettes by JACOMB HOOD. Second Edition. 33. 6d. 
 
 Some press notices. 
 
 Christian Leader. "Beautiful exceedingly; charmingly devised exqui- 
 sitely told." 
 
 Universal Review. " Heartily recommended." 
 
 Athenaum. " Mr. Wilde possesses the gift of writing fairy tales in a rare 
 degree." 
 
 Dublin Evening Mail. " A beautiful book in every sense." 
 
 Glasgow Herald. " It is difficult to speak too highly of these tales." 
 
 For Christmas 1897. 
 
 FAIRY TALES FROM THE FAR NORTH. By 
 
 P. C. ASBJORNSEN. Translated by H. L. BR/EKSTAD. With 
 94 Illustrations by E. WERENSKIOLD, T. KITTELSEN, and H. 
 SINDING. Small 4to (" Wonder Voyages " size), beautifully 
 printed at the Ballantyne Press on specially manufactured 
 paper. Cloth, designed Cover. 6s. 
 
 *** The raciest and quaintest of stories, the most spirited 
 and humorous of illustrations. 
 
 THE GIANT CRAB, and other Tales from Old India. 
 
 Retold by W. H. D. ROUSE. Profusely Illustrated by W. 
 ROBINSON. Square crown 8vo, beautifully printed at the 
 Ballantyne Press on special paper. Designed cloth cover. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 *** Adaptation for English children of Tales from the Oldest 
 Story Book in the world, the Jatakas, or Birth-stories of 
 Buddha. cj t 
 
 W ** 

 
 A \K-UN1VER% 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
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