he Wolf's head was inside. Then the Camel snapped
his jaws together upon the Wolf's neck.

"O Daddy Camel," said the Wolf, half throttled; "what is this?"

"This," said the Jackal, rolling up the whites of his eyes to the sky in
a most pious fashion; "this is the result of telling a lie." The Camel
said nothing at all, but simply throttled the Wolf to death, and the
Jackal ran away.

I think you will agree with me, that the Jackal, who
made the Wolf tell a lie, was wickeder than the Wolf
who told it; but yet he laughed at the Wolf, and
got off himself scot-free. That often happens
in this world; but we will hope that some
other time his sin was bound to
find him out.

[Illustration]

The Wise Old Shepherd

ONCE upon a time, a snake went out of his hole to take an airing. He
crawled about, greatly enjoying the scenery and the fresh whiff of the
breeze, until, seeing an open door, he went in. Now this door was the
door of the palace of the King, and inside was the King himself, with
all his courtiers.

Imagine their horror at seeing a huge Snake crawling in at the door.
They all ran away except the King, who felt that his rank forbade him to
be a coward, and the King's son. The King called out for somebody to
come and kill the Snake; but this horrified them still more, because in
that country the people believed it to be wicked to kill any living
thing, even snakes, and scorpions, and wasps. So the courtiers did
nothing, but the young Prince obeyed his father, and killed the Snake
with his stick.

After a while the Snake's wife became anxious, and set out in search of
her husband. She too saw the open door of the palace, and in she went. O
horror! there on the floor lay the body of her husband, all covered
with blood, and quite dead. No one saw the Snake's wife crawl in; she
inquired from a white ant what had happened, and when she found that the
young Prince had killed her husband, she made a vow, that as he had made
her a widow, so she would make his wife a widow.

That night, while all the world was asleep, the Snake crept into the
Prince's bedroom, and coiled around his neck. The Prince slept on, and
when he awoke in the morning, he was surprised to find his neck
encircled with the coils of a Snake. He was afraid to stir, so there he
remained, until the Prince's mother became anxious, and went to see what
was the matter. When sh