fe in his own church.

At this the Shopman went down on his knees, and put his hands together,
and said--

"O most respectable Demon! whoever you are, I pray you do me no harm;
and I will worship you, and offer you anything you may desire."

Then the Goat came majestically out, walking upon his hind legs, with
his grey beard flowing from his chin, and he said--

"Put wreaths and jewels about my neck, and on each of my horns, and
round my paws and my tail, and give me sweetmeats to eat, and I will do
you no harm."

The Shopman made haste to do all this; he wreathed the Goat with
flowers, and put all his wife's jewels upon the horns and paws, and all
the jewels he could borrow from his neighbours.

The Goat went home, and showed all this magnificence to his friend the
Hog. The Hog winked his greedy little eyes, and somehow made his friend
understand that he would like some too. Then the Goat told him how he
got the things, and showed him the way to the place.

So the Hog went to the same shop, and found it empty. The Shopman and
his little girl had gone out to tell all the town what adventures they
had passed through. The Hog grubbed up all he could find to eat, and
then went and sat in the inner room.

Soon the Shopman and his little girl came back. The little girl ran
inside to take off her little hat, and what does she see but a big black
Hog sitting there! The Hog remembered his lesson, and wanted to say some
terrible thing as the Goat had done; but all he could get out was--

"Ugh! ugh! ugh!"

This did not frighten the little girl at all. She ran out to her father,
saying--

"O papa! there is a big black Hog inside!"

The Shopman got out his knife, and whetted it on the grindstone, and
then he went into the room.

"Ugh! ugh! ugh!" said the Hog.

The Shopman said nothing, but stuck his knife into
the Hog. Then there was a squealing and squalling,
if you like! But in two minutes the Hog was dead,
and in two hours he was skinned and cut up, and by
nightfall, the Shopman and his little girl, and all
their friends, were sitting round a delicious
leg of roast pork, and the Sexton rang
the bell for dinner, and the Parson
said grace, and the Clerk
said Amen.

[Illustration]

The Parrot and the Parson

THERE was once a Banker who taught his Parrot the speech of men. The
Parrot made such progress