uld never come in. So he
put on as pleasant a voice as he could (which is not saying much) and
said,--

"Hullo, little Jackal!"

Oh! when the little Jackal heard that, he was frightened enough, for
once.

"It's the old Alligator," he said, "and if I don't make an end of him
this time he will certainly make an end of me. What shall I do?"

He thought very fast. Then he spoke out pleasantly.

"Thank you, little House," he said, "it's good to hear your pretty
voice, dear little House, and I will be in with you in a minute; only
first I must gather some firewood for dinner."

Then he went and gathered firewood, and more firewood, and more
firewood; and he piled it all up solid against the door and round the
house; and then he set fire to it!

And it smoked and burned till it smoked that old Alligator to smoked
herring!

THE LARKS IN THE CORNFIELD

There was once a family of little Larks who lived with their mother in
a nest in a cornfield. When the corn was ripe the mother Lark watched
very carefully to see if there were any sign of the reapers' coming,
for she knew that when they came their sharp knives would cut down the
nest and hurt the baby Larks. So every day, when she went out for
food, she told the little Larks to look and listen very closely to
everything that went on, and to tell her all they saw and heard when
she came home.

One day when she came home the little Larks were much frightened.

"Oh, Mother, dear Mother," they said, "you must move us away to-night!
The farmer was in the field to-day, and he said, 'The corn is ready to
cut; we must call in the neighbors to help.' And then he told his son
to go out to-night and ask all the neighbors to come and reap the corn
to-morrow."

The mother Lark laughed. "Don't be frightened," she said; "if he waits
for his neighbors to reap the corn we shall have plenty of time to
move; tell me what he says to-morrow."

The next night the little Larks were quite trembling with fear; the
moment their mother got home they cried out, "Mother, you must surely
move us to-night! The farmer came to-day and said, 'The corn is
getting too ripe; we cannot wait for our neighbors; we must ask our
relatives to help us.' And then he called his son and told him to ask
all the uncles and cousins to come to-morrow and cut the corn. Shall
we not move to-night?"

"Don't worry," said the mother Lark; "the uncles and cousins have
plenty of reaping to do for themse