"What a fine fellow am I, to be sure!" exclaimed the Gnat, as he proudly plumed his wings. "I"ve beaten a lion--a lion! Dear me, I ought to have been King long ago, I"m so clever, so big, so strong--_oh!_"
The Gnat"s frightened cry was caused by finding himself entangled in some silky sort of threads. While gloating over his victory, the wind had risen, and his gra.s.s-blade had swayed violently to and fro unnoticed by him. A stronger gust than usual had bent the blade downward close to the ground, and then something caught it and held it fast and with it the victorious Gnat. Oh, the desperate struggles he made to get free! Alas! he became more entangled than ever. You can guess what it was--a spider"s web, hung out from the overhanging branch of a tree.
Then--flipperty-flopperty, flipperty-flopperty, flop, flip, flop--down his stairs came cunning Father Spider and quickly gobbled up the little Gnat for his supper, and that was the end of him.
A strong Lion--and what overcame him? _A Gnat._
A clever Gnat--and what overcame him? _A Spider"s web!_ He who had beaten the strong lion had been overcome by the subtle snare of a spider"s thread.
ESPECIALLY FOR CLa.s.sES II. AND III.
THE CAT AND THE PARROT
Once there was a cat, and a parrot. And they had agreed to ask each other to dinner, turn and turn about: first the cat should ask the parrot, then the parrot should invite the cat, and so on. It was the cat"s turn first.
Now the cat was very mean. He provided nothing at all for dinner except a pint of milk, a little slice of fish, and a biscuit. The parrot was too polite to complain, but he did not have a very good time.
When it was his turn to invite the cat, he cooked a fine dinner. He had a roast of meat, a pot of tea, a basket of fruit, and, best of all, he baked a whole clothes-basketful of little cakes!--little, brown, crispy, spicy cakes! Oh, I should say as many as five hundred. And he put four hundred and ninety-eight of the cakes before the cat, keeping only two for himself.
Well, the cat ate the roast, and drank the tea, and sucked the fruit, and then he began on the pile of cakes. He ate all the four hundred and ninety-eight cakes, and then he looked round and said:--
"I"m hungry; haven"t you anything to eat?"
"Why," said the parrot, "here are my two cakes, if you want them?"
The cat ate up the two cakes, and then he licked his chops and said, "I am beginning to get an appet.i.te; have you anything to eat?"
"Well, really," said the parrot, who was now rather angry, "I don"t see anything more, unless you wish to eat me!" He thought the cat would be ashamed when he heard that--but the cat just looked at him and licked his chops again,--and slip! slop! gobble! down his throat went the parrot!
Then the cat started down the street. An old woman was standing by, and she had seen the whole thing, and she was shocked that the cat should eat his friend. "Why, cat!" she said, "how dreadful of you to eat your friend the parrot!"
"Parrot, indeed!" said the cat. "What"s a parrot to me?--I"ve a great mind to eat you, too." And--before you could say "Jack Robinson"--slip! slop!
gobble! down went the old woman!
Then the cat started down the road again, walking like this, because he felt so fine. Pretty soon he met a man driving a donkey. The man was beating the donkey, to hurry him up, and when he saw the cat he said, "Get out of my way, cat; I"m in a hurry and my donkey might tread on you."
"Donkey, indeed!" said the cat, "much I care for a donkey! I have eaten five hundred cakes, I"ve eaten my friend the parrot, I"ve eaten an old woman,--what"s to hinder my eating a miserable man and a donkey?"
And slip! slop! gobble! down went the old man and the donkey.
Then the cat walked on down the road, jauntily, like this. After a little, he met a procession, coming that way. The king was at the head, walking proudly with his newly married bride, and behind him were his soldiers, marching, and behind them were ever and ever so many elephants, walking two by two. The king felt very kind to everybody, because he had just been married, and he said to the cat, "Get out of my way, p.u.s.s.y, get out of my way,--my elephants might hurt you."
"Hurt me!" said the cat, shaking his fat sides. "Ho, ho! I"ve eaten five hundred cakes, I"ve eaten my friend the parrot, I"ve eaten an old woman, I"ve eaten a man and a donkey; what"s to hinder my eating a beggarly king?"
And slip! slop! gobble! down went the king; down went the queen; down went the soldiers,--and down went all the elephants!
Then the cat went on, more slowly; he had really had enough to eat, now.
But a little farther on he met two land-crabs, scuttling along in the dust. "Get out of our way, p.u.s.s.y," they squeaked.
"Ho, ho ho!" cried the cat in a terrible voice. "I"ve eaten five hundred cakes, I"ve eaten my friend the parrot, I"ve eaten an old woman, a man with a donkey, a king, a queen, his men-at-arms, and all his elephants; and now I"ll eat you too."
And slip! slop! gobble! down went the two land-crabs.
When the land-crabs got down inside, they began to look around. It was very dark, but they could see the poor king sitting in a corner with his bride on his arm; she had fainted. Near them were the men-at-arms, treading on one another"s toes, and the elephants, still trying to form in twos,--but they couldn"t, because there was not room. In the opposite corner sat the old woman, and near her stood the man and his donkey. But in the other corner was a great pile of cakes, and by them perched the parrot, his feathers all drooping.
"Let"s get to work!" said the land-crabs. And, snip, snap, they began to make a little hole in the side, with their sharp claws. Snip, snap, snip, snap,--till it was big enough to get through. Then out they scuttled.
Then out walked the king, carrying his bride; out marched the men-at-arms; out tramped the elephants, two by two; out came the old man, beating his donkey; out walked the old woman, scolding the cat; and last of all, out hopped the parrot, holding a cake in each claw. (You remember, two cakes were all he wanted?)
But the poor cat had to spend the whole day sewing up the hole in his coat!
THE RAT PRINCESS[1]
[Footnote 1: Adapted from Frank Rinder"s _Old World j.a.pan_. In telling this story the voice should be changed for the Sun, Cloud, Wind, and Wall, as is always done in the old story of _The Three Bears_.]
Once upon a time, there was a Rat Princess, who lived with her father, the Rat King, and her mother, the Rat Queen, in a ricefield in far away j.a.pan.
The Rat Princess was so pretty that her father and mother were quite foolishly proud of her, and thought no one good enough to play with her.
When she grew up, they would not let any of the rat princes come to visit her, and they decided at last that no one should marry her till they had found the most powerful person in the whole world; no one else was good enough. And the Father Rat started out to find the most powerful person in the whole world. The wisest and oldest rat in the ricefield said that the Sun must be the most powerful person, because he made the rice grow and ripen; so the Rat King went to find the Sun. He climbed up the highest mountain, ran up the path of a rainbow, and travelled and travelled across the sky till he came to the Sun"s house.
"What do you want, little brother?" the Sun said, when he saw him.
"I come," said the Rat King, very importantly, "to offer you the hand of my daughter, the princess, because you are the most powerful person in the world; no one else is good enough."
"Ha, ha!" laughed the jolly round Sun, and winked with his eye. "You are very kind, little brother, but if that is the case the princess is not for me; the Cloud is more powerful than I am; when he pa.s.ses over me I cannot shine."
"Oh, indeed," said the Rat King, "then you are not my man at all"; and he left the Sun without more words. The Sun laughed and winked to himself.
And the Rat King travelled and travelled across the sky till he came to the Cloud"s house.
"What do you want, little brother?" sighed the Cloud when he saw him.
"I come to offer you the hand of my daughter, the princess," said the Rat King, "because you are the most powerful person in the world; the Sun said so, and no one else is good enough."
The Cloud sighed again. "I am not the most powerful person," he said; "the Wind is stronger than I,--when he blows, I have to go wherever he sends me."
"Then you are not the person for my daughter," said the Rat King proudly; and he started at once to find the Wind. He travelled and travelled across the sky, till he came at last to the Wind"s house, at the very edge of the world.
When the Wind saw him coming he laughed a big, gusty laugh, "Ho, ho!" and asked him what he wanted; and when the Rat King told him that he had come to offer him the Rat Princess"s hand because he was the most powerful person in the world, the Wind shouted a great gusty shout, and said, "No, no, I am not the strongest; the Wall that man has made is stronger than I; I cannot make him move, with all my blowing; go to the Wall, little brother!"
And the Rat King climbed down the sky-path again, and travelled and travelled across the earth till he came to the Wall. It was quite near his own ricefield.
"What do you want, little brother?" grumbled the Wall when he saw him.
"I come to offer you the hand of the princess, my daughter, because you are the most powerful person in the world, and no one else is good enough."
"Ugh, ugh," grumbled the Wall, "I am not the strongest; the big grey Rat who lives in the cellar is stronger than I. When he gnaws and gnaws at me I crumble and crumble, and at last I fall; go to the Rat, little brother."