the wilds, they caught sight in the
distance of a large animal, which, as they got nearer, they discovered
to be a brown bear; and what was their horror to see within its clutches
their lost young ones! Their sensations of dismay were exchanged for
astonishment, when they saw the children running about, laughing, round
the bear, sometimes taking it by the paws, and sometimes pulling it by
the tail. The monster, evidently amused with their behaviour, treated
them in the most affectionate manner. One of the children now produced
some fruit, with which it fed its shaggy playfellow, while the other
climbed up on its back, and sat there, fearlessly urging its strange
steed to move on. The parents gave way to cries of terror at seeing the
apparent danger to which their offspring were exposed. The little boy,
however, having slipped off the bear's back, the animal, hearing the
sound of their voices, left the children, and retreated quietly into the
forest.

THE WISE HARE AND HER PURSUERS.

I will now tell you a story of a very different animal--the timid little
hare--which has to depend for safety, not, like the bear, on strength,
but on speed and cunning.

A poor little hare was one day closely pursued by a brace of greyhounds,
when, seeing a gate near, she ran for it. The bars were too close to
allow the hounds to get through, so they had to leap over the gate. As
they did so, the hare, perceiving that they would be upon her the next
instant, turned round, and ran again under the gate, where she had just
before passed. The impetus of the hounds had sent them a considerable
distance, and they had now to wheel about and leap once more over the
upper bar of the gate. Again she doubled, and returned by the way she
had come; and thus, going backwards and forwards, the dogs followed till
they were fairly tired out, while the little hare, watching her
opportunity, happily made her escape.

You may learn a lesson even from this little hare, never to yield to
difficulties. Persevere, and you will surmount them at last.

THE CUNNING WOLF.

Two hundred years ago there were wolves in Ireland, and it appears that
they were as cunning as the foxes of the present day.

A man, travelling, as was the custom in those times, on horseback, with
a sword by his side, was passing between two towns, some three miles
from each other, when he was attacked by a wolf. He drove him off with
his sword, but again and again the animal a