ith long
sticks, may still be seen hunting hares near this wood;
sometimes a dog's bark is heard and a shrill whistle, but
if any of mankind appear in their sight, the creatures run
quickly away, and hide themselves in the wood.

[Illustration: THE DUEL OF THE DORMICE.]

THE DUEL OF THE DORMICE.

Out in the fields, in the hollow of an old willow-tree, two
Dormice slept the whole winter long. They neither ate nor
drank, nor did they so much as raise their heads from their
pillows during all this dreary time. A ray of sunshine, as
the sun passed right over their tree, would perhaps make one
of them stretch out his paws; but as soon as the gleam had
passed and left them, he would curl himself up all the
closer in his nest, and go faster asleep than ever.

But the sun came one bright spring morning, and shone on the
Dormice so warmly, that they turned round in their bed,
stretched their paws, rubbed their eyes, yawned, and at last
woke quite up.

"It is summer-time at last," said the elder Dormouse, as he
took a nut from his store of provisions and cracked it, "and
we may now leave our winter's bed." "I don't believe it,"
replied the younger. "The wind blows cold; I shall go to
sleep again."

"Ah, that's like your laziness," rejoined the elder; "sleep
on; I'm off to the wood." And so saying, he scrambled up the
tree, then down the outside of the trunk, and so into the
wide meadows.

The younger Dormouse went to sleep. He slept for an hour,
then he woke again, and finding his companion gone, he
turned to the food and ate a hearty meal; then he slept
again, but the sun had made his bed too hot: so he presently
woke and made another attack on the provisions; and this he
did the whole day long, until, at evening time, all the corn
and nuts which the two Dormice had so diligently collected
in the autumn, were gone. Soon the moon rose, and the young
one curled himself for sleep.

In the meantime the elder had wandered about the fields;
but the earth was wet, and no corn or fruit was ripe, so at
night he returned to his nest wet and hungry. He ran
straight to the store-room for food; but what was his
surprise when he found nothing left but a few barley-corns!
His cries woke his companion, from whom he demanded the
provisions; the younger one muttered that he knew nothing
about them, and pretended to sleep; but the unfortunate
adventurer, driven to desperation by hunger, flew into a
rage and struck the ot