house, and put up their backs, and do spit, and

say in their
in their way,

"Ah, ah! Mr. Dog, you may not come here; here I am safe, and here you can-not bite me!

"And the dogs stand and look up at the cats, and wag their tails, and bark, and jump; but, for all that, they can-not hurt the cats, for the cats are up in their house quite safe."

"Are there more dogs than cats, or more cats than dogs?

“There are more cats than dogs. But I did not mean to tell you of the cats, it was of the dogs I meant to tell you. There is one old dog whom the rest of the dogs love much, and when the old dog says in her way, 'Do this, or do that!' the dogs do just what the old dog tells them to do.

"One day the old dog said, 'I will go and take a walk,' and eight of the dogs said, 'Let us go with the old dog, and take care that no harm comes to her in her walk.'

"So the old dog set out for her walk, and the eight dogs went with her, and did walk, some on the right side, and some on the left side, to see that no harm came to the old dog.

"Now no one in the house knew that the old dog was gone for a walk, and by-and-by my friend did miss the dogs.

"Where are the dogs?' said she.

“Where are the dogs?' said the men.
“Where are the dogs?' said the maids.

"But no one had seen the dogs, no one could say where the dogs were gone. Now, my friend was so fond of her dogs that she did fear her dogs were lost, and that she should not see her dogs more; and she sent by this road, and by that road, to see if her dogs could be found, but no one could say where the dogs were gone. And the day went by, and the night did come, and the dogs had not come home." "Where were the dogs?"

"Wait, and you shall hear."

STORY XVII.

HOW THE DOGS GOT HOME.

"WHEN the old dog had gone some way from home she must have said in her way to the dogs, 'We will not go home yet, we will go and see the land.'

"And the dogs did bark and say, 'Yes, we will not go home yet, we will go and see the land.'

"So the old dog did walk on, and the eight dogs did walk slow by her side. And they went, and they went, and they went, till they had gone a long way from home, and still the old dog did walk on first, and still the eight dogs did walk slow by her side, some on the right hand, and some on the left.

"At last the old dog could walk no more, so the old dog sat down and said,

66 6

Oh, my dear dogs! I must sit still. I can walk no more. Why did I come so far from my home? Oh, my dogs! What shall I do ?'

"And the eight dogs sat down by the old dog, and said in their way,

66 6

'Oh, what shall we do? Oh, what shall we do?' And the dogs sat a long, long time; but the old dog did not move, and the dogs sat still by her side.

"Now there came by that way a man with a cart, and when he saw the old dog sit by the road side, with the eight dogs that sat by her, he said to himself,

66 6

'I do know that dog.

How did that dog get here? I will take that dog home in my cart.'

"And the kind man got out of his cart, and he put the old dog in the cart, and the eight dogs ran by the cart, and did jump and bark for joy to see the old dog ride in the cart, and said in their way,

"Now we shall go home.

will see home once more.

Now the old dog

Oh, we are so glad

that the good kind man has put our old dog

in the cart.'

D

"And so they went by the road, and the old dog went in the cart, and the eight dogs ran by the cart, some on the right side and some on the left, and it was late at night when they got home. And when my friend heard that her dogs had come home, and when she heard the eight dogs bark for joy, my friend was glad, as glad as was the old dog to find that she was at home once more; and the old dog said,

66 6

Ah, my dear dogs, now we will stay at home. We will not go to see the land more.'"

"IF

STORY XVIII.

HOW THE APE FELL FROM THE TREE.

you will come and sit by me, I will tell you a tale of what a friend of mine saw when he was in a land far, far from his own."

66 Oh, do! I shall like to hear that tale."