y fell
off.

The queen also came; she was bigger than the king and had to have cats
to draw her chariot. The cats fought a good deal, but the driver, who
was a mouse, managed to get them along. The footman was also a mouse,
and the queen had two pet mice that sat at her feet or played with her
scepter. After the queen came the chief jumping jack, who did funny
tricks with bottles as he danced along.

[Illustration]

Then came the ladies of the court. They sat in nautilus shells, which
were each borne by two bearers. The first shell went along nicely, but
the men who carried the second were lazy and the lady beat them with a
hair-brush. As for the bearers of the last shell, they had a fight and
took their poles to beat each other, leaving their shell, with the
lady in it, on the ground. She didn't mind, for she thought that if
they went off and left her, she wouldn't have to do any spelling. So
she stayed in her shell and smiled very contentedly.

[Illustration]

The town bell-man walked along in grand state ringing his bell, and the
cock-who-could-n't-walk rode on a wheelbarrow and crowed by note. The
old ram wheeled the barrow, in which was also a basket containing the
hen and chickens. The smallest chicken tried to crow in tune with his
father, but nobody could hear whether he crowed right or wrong--and
what is more, nobody cared.

The monkey didn't walk, but was carried in a bucket by a mountaineer,
and he blew peas through a tube at the palace steward who was having
his hair combed by the court barber. It was so late that the barber had
to hurry, and so he used a rake instead of a comb. The steward did not
like this, but there was so little time that nothing else could be
done, for the procession was already moving.

[Illustration]

There was a lion who lived at the Town-hall. He was very wise, and his
business was to bite criminals. When he heard about the bee he thought
he would have to go, but the moment he showed himself in the street all
the relatives of the criminals got after him. The wasps stung him, a
game-cock pecked at him, a beetle nipped him, a dog barked at him, an
old woman ran after him with a broom, a wooden-legged soldier pursued
him with a sword, a rat gave chase to him, while a rabbit took down his
shot-gun and cried out, fiercely, that he would blow the top of that
old lion's head off, if he could only get a fair crack at him.

[Illustration]

Two of the liveliest animals in the to