you see, Bob, why I could not treat you on that second of January when
we drove to the palace together; when the girls and boys were sliding on
the ponds at Dulwich; when the darkling river was full of floating ice,
and the sun was like a warming-pan in the leaden sky.

One more Christmas sight we had, of course; and that sight I think I
like as well as Bob himself at Christmas, and at all seasons. We went to
a certain garden of delight, where, whatever your cares are, I think you
can manage to forget some of them, and muse, and be not unhappy; to a
garden beginning with a Z, which is as lively as Noah's ark; where the
fox has brought his brush, and the cock has brought his comb, and the
elephant has brought his trunk, and the kangaroo has brought his bag,
and the condor his old white wig and black satin hood. On this day it
was so cold that the white bears winked their pink eyes, as they plapped
up and down by their pool, and seemed to say, "Aha, this weather reminds
us of our dear home!" "Cold! bah! I have got such a warm coat," says
brother Bruin, "I don't mind;" and he laughs on his pole, and clucks
down a bun. The squealing hyaenas gnashed their teeth and laughed at us
quite refreshingly at their window; and, cold as it was, Tiger, Tiger,
burning bright, glared at us red-hot through his bars, and snorted
blasts of hell. The woolly camel leered at us quite kindly as he paced
round his ring on his silent pads. We went to our favorite places.
Our dear wambat came up, and had himself scratched very affably. Our
fellow-creatures in the monkey-room held out their little black hands,
and piteously asked us for Christmas alms. Those darling alligators on
their rock winked at us in the most friendly way. The solemn eagles
sat alone, and scowled at us from their peaks; whilst little Tom Ratel
tumbled over head and heels for us in his usual diverting manner. If I
have cares in my mind, I come to the Zoo, and fancy they don't pass
the gate. I recognize my friends, my enemies, in countless cages.
I entertained the eagle, the vulture, the old billy-goat, and the
black-pated, crimson-necked, blear-eyed, baggy, hook-beaked old marabou
stork yesterday at dinner; and when Bob's aunt came to tea in the
evening, and asked him what he had seen, he stepped up to her gravely,
and said--

"First I saw the white bear, then I saw the black,
Then I saw the camel with a hump upon his back.

Chorus of children:

Then I saw