your choice--be my servant,
or (in a terrible voice) BE MY BREAKFAST; it is just the same to me. I
give you time to decide till I have smoked out my pipe, and that's the
short and the long of it.'"

"What a cruel old griffin!" exclaimed Willie; "why didn't he catch an
elephant, and eat him instead of the dog? Suppose it had been me, mamma,
what would I have done?"

"Just what Beppo did, my dear, for the weak must yield to the strong, in
a case where life can be saved without sin. So the dog said to himself,
'Of course, it is a dreadful misfortune to live in a cave with this
abominable old griffin; but, perhaps, if I do my duty and serve him
faithfully, he will take pity on me, some day, and let me go back to the
world and tell my cousin what a good-for-nothing rogue the fox is; and,
besides, though I would fight like forty Indians or General Jackson, it
is impossible to conquer a griffin, with a mouth of so monstrous a
size--it is twice the size of a barn-door.' In short, he decided to stay
with the griffin.

"'Shake a paw on it,' said the grim old smoker, and the dog shook paws.

"'And now,' said the griffin, 'I will tell you what you are to do--look
here;' and, moving his great fan-like tail, he showed the dog an
enormous heap of gold and silver, in a hole in the ground, that he had
covered with the folds of his tail; and, also, what the dog thought far
more valuable, a great heap of bones, of very delicious smell and
appearance.

"'Now, old fellow,' said the griffin, 'in the day-time I can take very
good care of these myself; but, at night, I am so tired that I can't
keep my eyes open, so when I sleep you must watch over them, as if you
had fifty-nine eyes.'

"'Very well,' said the dog, 'I'm the boy for watching! and as to the
gold and silver, they will be as safe as a bank; but I would rather you
would lock up the bones, for they smell very nice, and, as I am often
hungry of a night, I am afraid--'

"'Hold your tongue,' interrupted the griffin, looking as cross as two
sticks, and in a voice like a cannon going off.

"'But, sir,' said the dog, after a short silence, 'I am sure nobody ever
comes here: who are the thieves, if I may be so bold as to ask?'

"'Well, I will tell you,' answered the griffin. 'In this neighborhood
there are a great many serpents, regular anacondas, and, though they
haven't a leg to stand on, they are always rearing up, looking over
their own shoulders, and trying to steal my treasu