fore; but every time we
started to come, a dreadful great lion came out of the woods and roared
at us, and frightened us so that we ran away."

"What do you mean?" roared the Lion. "There's no other lion in this
jungle, and you know it!"

"Indeed, indeed, Father Lion," said the little Jackal, "I know that is
what everybody thinks; but indeed and indeed there is another lion!
And he is as much bigger than you as you are bigger than I! His face
is much more terrible, and his roar far, far more dreadful. Oh, he is
far more fearful than you!"

At that the Lion stood up and roared so that the jungle shook.

"Take me to this lion," he said; "I'll eat him up and then I'll eat you
up."

The little Jackals danced on ahead, and the Lion stalked behind. They
led him to a place where there was a round, deep well of clear water.
They went round on one side of it, and the Lion stalked up to the other.

"He lives down there, Father Lion!" said the little Jackal. "He lives
down there!"

The Lion came close and looked down into the water,--and a lion's face
looked back at him out of the water!

When he saw that, the Lion roared and shook his mane and showed his
teeth. And the lion in the water shook his mane and showed his teeth.
The Lion above shook his mane again and growled again, and made a
terrible face. But the lion in the water made just as terrible a one,
back. The Lion above couldn't stand that. He leaped down into the well
after the other lion.

But, of course, as you know very well, there wasn't any other lion! It
was only the reflection in the water!

So the poor old Lion floundered about and floundered about, and as he
couldn't get up the steep sides of the well, he was drowned dead. And
when he was drowned the little Jackals took hold of hands and danced
round the well, and sang,--

"The Lion is dead! The Lion is dead!

"We have killed the great Lion who would have killed us!

"The Lion is dead! The Lion is dead!

"Ao! Ao! Ao!"

THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE CITY MOUSE[1]

[1] The following story of the two mice, with the similar fables of The
Boy who cried Wolf, The Frog King, and The Sun and the Wind, are given
here with the hope that they may be of use to the many teachers who
find the over-familiar material of the fables difficult to adapt, and
who are yet aware of the great usefulness of the stories to young
minds. A certain degree of vividness and amplitude must be added to
the compac