's yust dat puffed out dat he roll over an'
over like a shot hare, an' he's so long a-gettin' over it dat he forget
what day it happen in. Ever since den, too, de birds all click deir
beakses at him, an' chatter at him, an' ax him how he likes Tinky eggs;
an' dat's what make him so shamed he ain't never cocked up his tail no
more--he yust cahnt do it."

"And serve him right," cried all the children in chorus.

Old Hendrik only shook his head.

CHAPTER TEN.

WHY LITTLE HARE HAS SUCH A SHORT TAIL.

Old Hendrik was standing by the corner of the house, milking pail in
hand, watching the slow procession of the cows homeward from the veldt.
The calves in the kraal clamoured insistently to hasten their mammies
home; those mammies answered now and then with a patient bellow of
assurance as they continued their placid pace, and Old Hendrik seemed to
be as vacant of thought or stir as they. But when little Annie came
strolling out to enjoy the never-staling delight of seeing the headlong
rush of each calf in turn to its mammy, the old Hottentot looked down at
her and begun without further warning. "Ole King Lion had five cows,
an' t'ree o' dem was wild an' wand'ry."

"Oh!" cried Annie, "I never heard of that. And what did he do with
them, Ou' Ta'?"

"Why, milk 'em, o' course," returned Old Hendrik. "What else? An' some
o' de milk his ole missis an' de kleinkies drink, an' some he drink
hisse'f. De rest he make de butter wid to grease all deir ole noses."

"Oh, how funny!" cried Annie in huge delight. "And did he mind them
himself?"

"Course not!" retorted Hendrik, a little scornfully. "Ain't he a king?
Kings don't mind cows. Not him. He yust make all de animals try deir
turn at it, but dese t'ree wand'ry ones dey'd keep gettin' away, an' den
de animal dat come home wid dem t'ree missin'--well, he'd be a-missin'
too, an' Ole King Lion he'd be dat much fatter.

"Well, it come Little Hahsie's turn at last--Klein Hahsie, dat you call
Little Hare, dat skellum Little Hare--but he yust prance out behind dem
cows in de mawnin' wid a high ole hop an a skip. He'd show 'em about
mindin' five bally ole cows, he would, ses he. He sticks a green twig
in his mouf, an' he biffs his ole hat down over his eyes, an' he gets
dem cows down in a hook o' de river an' squots down on a little
koppiekie to watch 'em, all nice an' all right. `Mind five ole cows,'
ses he; `by de jimminy, gi'e me sometin' easier--if dere is any.