""The _what_?" cried the magpie, c.o.c.king down her left ear.
""The amoronthologosphorus."
""La!" said the magpie, "and what is that tremendous long word, my dear Mr. Reynard?"
""The amoronthologosphorus is a beast that lives on the top of the North Pole, fifteen miles from any water, and the same distance from any land; it has nine legs, and on the ninth leg are three hairs, and whoever has those three hairs can be young and beautiful for ever.""
"Dear me," said Willie, "I wish I could get those three hairs for my dear grandma."
"So do I," answered his mother, "and the magpie wanted them, too, for she exclaimed: "Bless me, I wish you would let me see them," and she poked out her claw for the three hairs.
""Really, ma"am, I would oblige you with pleasure," said the wicked fellow, who had no hairs, and never heard of the animal with the long name, "but it is as much as my life is worth to show them to any but the lady I marry. But you"ll be sure not to mention it."
""A magpie gossip, indeed!" cried the old tell-tale.
"The fox then wished the magpie good-night, and retired to a hole to sleep off the fatigues of the day, as he meant to present himself to the beautiful cat as fine as a Broadway dandy.
"The very next morning (n.o.body knew how) it was all over the place that Reynard had been banished from the lion"s court, who, to console him, had made him a present of three hairs, that would magically convert the one that he married, even if she was a perfect scarecrow, into a young and beautiful lady for ever."
"It was the magpie that told, wasn"t it?" asked Willie.
"I suspect it was," answered his mother, "and the cat was the very first to learn the news, and she was perfectly crazy to see so interesting a stranger, with three such wonderful hairs. "I tell you what!" she said to her maid, "I"ll have those three hairs before I am three days older."
"Then the cat put on a white satin bonnet with ten ostrich feathers fastened all over it, and a thread-lace veil, her pink satin shoes, and a green parasol, and set out for a walk. Of course, she met the fox the very first thing; and he made her such a low bow that he very nearly cracked his spine. She blushed, and simpered, and thought the fox was the very pink of politeness; and he flattered her until she was quite ready to believe he was, also, the pink of perfection.
"Meanwhile, let us see what became of his rival, poor Beppo."
"Ah, the poor fellow!" cried Willie, "no chance for him--buried alive!
just think."
"Wait till the end. When Beppo found that he was in this dismal trap, he gave himself up for lost. In vain he kicked, and scratched, and banged his hind legs against the heavy stone, he only succeeded in bruising his paws; and, at length, he was forced to lie down, so exhausted that his tongue hung a quarter of a yard out of his mouth, and he breathed like a locomotive. "Dear me!" he said, "it won"t do to be starved here, without trying my best to escape;" and he repeated to himself this fine piece of poetry, the comfort and truth of which he had often, proved:--
""If you find your task is hard, Try--try again; Time will bring you your reward; Try--try again.
All that other dogs can do, Why, with patience, should not you?
Only keep this rule in view-- TRY--TRY AGAIN."
""Now, let me see--if I can"t get out one way, I will try if there is not a hole at the other end." Thus saying, his courage returned, and he began to push on in the same straightforward way in which he had always conducted himself. At first the path was exceedingly narrow, and he was squeezed almost as flat as a pancake, besides being in mortal fear that his ribs would be broken in pieces like a crockery tea-pot, the stones that projected on either side were so sharp and rough. If he had been a cat, it would not have made so much difference, as they are said to have nine lives. But Beppo persevered, and, at last, was rewarded; for, by degrees, the way became broader, and he went on with great ease and comfort till he arrived at a large cavern, and beheld an immense griffin sitting on his tail and smoking a huge pipe.
"What a fright poor Beppo was in! for the monster had only to open his mouth, to swallow him up, without pepper or salt, as easily as you would an oyster. However, he put a bold face upon the danger, and walking respectfully up to the griffin, he made a very low bow, and said, "Sir, I should be very much obliged to you, if you would inform me how to find the way out of these holes into the world again?"
"The griffin took the pipe out of his mouth, and looked at Beppo as sharp as a carving-knife.
""Ho, wretch!" said he, "how did you come here? I suppose you want to steal my treasure; but I know how to treat such vagabonds as you, and I shall certainly eat you up."
""You can do that if you choose," said Beppo, "but it would be very unhandsome conduct in an animal forty times bigger than myself. For my own part, I never attack a dog that is not of my own size: I should be very much ashamed of myself if I did. And as to your treasure, I am an _honest_ dog, sir, as is very well known, and would not touch it if it was all composed of marrow-bones."
""Upon my word," said the griffin, who could not help smiling, for the life of him, "you are very free, and rather saucy; but, I say, how did you come here?"
"Then the good fellow, who did not know what a lie was, (I hope all the boys and girls reading this can say the same,) told the griffin his whole history--how he had set off to see his cousin the cat, and how that scamp of a Reynard had entrapped him into the hole.
"When he had finished, the griffin said to him, "My friend, I see that you know how to speak the truth. I am very much in want of just such a servant as you will make me; therefore, stay with me, Beppo, and keep watch over my treasure when I sleep."
""Hum! two words to that," said the dog. "You have hurt my feelings very much by calling me a thief; and, besides, I am perfectly wild with impatience to go back to the wood to thrash that scoundrel the fox. I do not wish to serve you, even if you _gave_ me all your treasures; so I beg you to let me go, and to show me the way to my cousin the cat."
""Look here, old fellow," answered the griffin, "I am not very fond of making speeches a mile long, and I give you your choice--be my servant, or (in a terrible voice) BE MY BREAKFAST; it is just the same to me. I give you time to decide till I have smoked out my pipe, and that"s the short and the long of it.""
"What a cruel old griffin!" exclaimed Willie; "why didn"t he catch an elephant, and eat him instead of the dog? Suppose it had been me, mamma, what would I have done?"
"Just what Beppo did, my dear, for the weak must yield to the strong, in a case where life can be saved without sin. So the dog said to himself, "Of course, it is a dreadful misfortune to live in a cave with this abominable old griffin; but, perhaps, if I do my duty and serve him faithfully, he will take pity on me, some day, and let me go back to the world and tell my cousin what a good-for-nothing rogue the fox is; and, besides, though I would fight like forty Indians or General Jackson, it is impossible to conquer a griffin, with a mouth of so monstrous a size--it is twice the size of a barn-door." In short, he decided to stay with the griffin.
""Shake a paw on it," said the grim old smoker, and the dog shook paws.
""And now," said the griffin, "I will tell you what you are to do--look here;" and, moving his great fan-like tail, he showed the dog an enormous heap of gold and silver, in a hole in the ground, that he had covered with the folds of his tail; and, also, what the dog thought far more valuable, a great heap of bones, of very delicious smell and appearance.
""Now, old fellow," said the griffin, "in the day-time I can take very good care of these myself; but, at night, I am so tired that I can"t keep my eyes open, so when I sleep you must watch over them, as if you had fifty-nine eyes."
""Very well," said the dog, "I"m the boy for watching! and as to the gold and silver, they will be as safe as a bank; but I would rather you would lock up the bones, for they smell very nice, and, as I am often hungry of a night, I am afraid--"
""Hold your tongue," interrupted the griffin, looking as cross as two sticks, and in a voice like a cannon going off.
""But, sir," said the dog, after a short silence, "I am sure n.o.body ever comes here: who are the thieves, if I may be so bold as to ask?"
""Well, I will tell you," answered the griffin. "In this neighborhood there are a great many serpents, regular anacondas, and, though they haven"t a leg to stand on, they are always rearing up, looking over their own shoulders, and trying to steal my treasure; and if they caught me napping, they would sting me to death before you count five; so I have to keep one eye open all night, and I am almost worn into holes."
""You don"t say so," said the dog; "well, I don"t envy you your treasure, sir."
"When the night came, the griffin, who was a very cute fellow, and saw that the dog was so perfectly honest that he was to be entirely trusted, laid down to sleep, and was soon snoring like twenty fat aldermen rolled into one, and Beppo, shaking himself almost out of his skin, so as to be quite awake, took watch over the treasure. His mouth watered till it made quite a pond at his feet, at the delightful bones, and he could not help smelling at them now and then; but the honest fellow said to himself, "A bargain"s a bargain, and since I have promised to serve the griffin, and shaken paws on it, I must serve him as an honest dog ought to serve.""
"What a good dog!" said Willie; "I like him."
"In the very middle of the night, a great snake came creeping in by the side of the cave, but the dog spied him, and set up such a barking that you would have thought a whole pack of the largest fire-crackers was going off all at once. The griffin woke up with a start, and the snake crept away with all his might and main. Then the griffin was very much pleased, and he gave the dog one of the delicious bones to eat; and every night the dog watched the treasure, and did it so well, that not a single snake would have dared to poke its nose (if it had one) into the cave, and the griffin grew so fat, with the excellent rest he enjoyed, that he could hardly see out of his eyes, and his three double chins shook like a bowl of jelly.
"When we try to do our duty faithfully we are more comfortable than we expect, even if the duty is disagreeable. It happened so with our friend Beppo. The griffin regularly gave him an elegant bone for supper, which did not need mustard to make it relishing, and pleased Beppo more than a houseful of sugar-candy; and, pleased with his honesty, made himself as agreeable as it was possible for a savage old griffin to do. Still the poor dog was very anxious to return to the world, for, having nothing to do all day but to doze on the ground, he dreamed all the time of his beautiful cousin the cat; and, in fancy, he gave the rascal Reynard as hearty a worrying as a fox ever had from a dog"s paws. But, alas! when he awoke panting, it was nothing but a dream.
"One night, as he was watching as usual over the treasure, what was his surprise, to see a most beautiful little black and white dog enter the cave: it came fawning to our honest friend, wagging its tail with pleasure."
""Ah! little one," said Beppo, "you had better make tracks out of this place, I can tell _you_. See--there is a great griffin asleep in that corner over yonder, and if he awakes he will eat you up in half a second, or make you his servant, as he has made me."
""I know all that very well, my dear friend," said the little dog, "and I have come down here on purpose to deliver you. The stone is taken away from the mouth of the cave, and you have nothing to do but to go back with me. Come, dear brother, come," and the little dog put on an air of entreaty very hard to resist.
"Poor Beppo was in the greatest state of excitement at this speech, and the pleading look, but he said: "Don"t ask me, for goodness" sake, my dear little friend; I would give every thing I have, except the wag of my tail, to escape out of this dismal cave, and roll on the soft gra.s.s once more; but if I leave my master the griffin, those abominable scamps of serpents, who are always on the watch, will come in and wriggle off his treasure, and, besides, sting him to death. I cannot go. Oh dear! I cannot go! I must, and I _will_ be faithful."
"Then the little dog came up close to Beppo, and put his fore paws round his neck, and looked into his eyes with his large l.u.s.trous...o...b.., and licked his face (which is all the same with dogs as kissing); and then gently taking his ear in his mouth, endeavored to draw him away from the treasure; but honest Beppo would not stir a step, though his heart beat, and he longed to go."
"At length the little dog, finding it all in vain, said: "Well, then, if I _must_ leave, at least shake paws for good-bye; but let me tell you, I have become so hungry, in coming down all this way after you, and talking so much, that I do wish you would give me one of those bones: dear me! how good they smell; come, give me one--that"s a good fellow; one will never be missed."
""Alas!" said the good Beppo, "how unlucky I am to have eaten up the bone my master gave me! I would have given it to you, and have gone without with the greatest pleasure. But I cannot give you one of these; my master made me promise to watch over them all, and I have given him my paw on it: it would be stealing. Me steal? never! I am sure a little dog of your respectable appearance will say nothing more about it."