se could we eat?" he asked, "There isn't anything else!"

"Of course there is--lots and lots," answered Swanki. "There's mince pie
and ham sandwiches and jam tarts and vinegar and plum duff and cakes and
pickled cabbages."

[Illustration: "So they all ran off and collected puriri berries."]

Tiki stared at Swanki in amazement; he had never even heard of these
foods, and thought she must be wonderfully clever to know all about
them.

Sly little Swanki did not tell him that she had lately been hidden in a
hollow tree stump near a picnic party which had come into the bush, and
that she had heard the people offering these strange foods to one
another, and they sounded as though they might be more interesting than
just berries--berries--berries--roots--roots--roots.

And that is always the way,--something we haven't got always seems more
worth having than the things we have.

When Tiki had recovered from his surprise he remembered one familiar
word in Swanki's list of things to eat, and as he was always ready to
please, he said:

"Swanki, I don't know where the mince pie and plum duff and--and vinegar
trees grow, but I can show you the pickled cabbage trees all right."

"Oh, Tiki, can you?" cried Swanki. "Then let's go at once. I'm longing
for some pickled cabbage."

"It's a long way," said Tiki, doubtfully, "a long, long way to go;"
(though he'd never heard of the popular song, which shows how easy it
must be to write those songs).

But Swanki said it didn't matter how far it was; the sooner they
started, the sooner they'd be there, which was true in a way.

They slid down the tree, and having persuaded the kiwi to give them a
lift, which was pretty cool of them, considering, they set off and
travelled in fine style for some way.

But as they arrived near the edge of the bush and the trees grew
thinner, the kiwi, who hates the open country for his own reasons,
refused to go any farther, and the Piccaninnies had to get off and
trudge the rest of the way on foot.

And crossing a little green glade they met Miss Fantail darting round
and round the glade after flies. Now, Miss Fantail is a friendly and
harmless little bird, but she's the most inquisitive creature in the
bush, and a regular little gossip.

The Piccaninnies knew that if she got wind of where they were going it
would soon be all over the bush, and they made up their minds to dodge
her. So they pretended to be little brown lizards crawling through