ling the name
of her old playmate, Labismena, at the hour of her marriage as she had
promised to do. She thought of nothing but the prince.

There was no escape for Labismena. She had to remain in the form of a
sea serpent because of Dionysia's neglect. She had lost her chance to
come out of the sea and become a lovely princess herself and find a
charming prince of her own. For this reason her sad moan is heard in
the sea until this very day. Perhaps you have noticed it.

You will often hear the call come from the sea as it breaks against
the shore, "Dionysia, Di-o-ny-si-a." No wonder that the sea moans. It
is enough to make a sea serpent sad to be forgotten by the very person
one has done most to help.

XVIII

How the Brazilian Beetles Got

Their Gorgeous Coats

In Brazil the beetles have such beautifully coloured, hard-shelled
coats upon their backs that they are often set in pins and necklaces
like precious stones. Once upon a time, years and years ago, they had
ordinary plain brown coats. This is how it happened that the Brazilian
beetle earned a new coat.

One day a little brown beetle was crawling along a wall when a big
grey rat ran out of a hole in the wall and looked down scornfully at
the little beetle. "O ho!" he said to the beetle, "how slowly you
crawl along. You'll never get anywhere in the world. Just look at me
and see how fast I can run."

The big grey rat ran to the end of the wall, wheeled around, and came
back to the place where the little beetle was slowly crawling along at
only a tiny distance from where the rat had left her.

"Don't you wish that you could run like that?" said the big grey rat
to the little brown beetle.

"You are surely a fast runner," replied the little brown beetle
politely. Her mother had taught her always to be polite and had often
said to her that a really polite beetle never boasts about her own
accomplishments. The little brown beetle never boasted a single boast
about the things she could do. She just went on slowly crawling along
the wall.

A bright green and gold parrot in the mango tree over the wall had
heard the conversation. "How would you like to race with the beetle?"
he asked the big grey rat. "I live next door to the tailor bird," he
added, "and just to make the race exciting I'll offer a bright
coloured coat as a prize to the one who wins the race. You may choose
for it any colour you like and I'll have it made to order."

"I'd like a y