owardly, accursed men; ah, good, gentle, and holy men,
please remove some of those damnable peaks. I will adore your beautiful
shovels forever. I will be slave to the beckoning of your little
fingers. I will no longer be my own donkey--I will be your donkey."

The men burst into a triumphant shout and ceased shovelling.

"Swear it, mountain-carrier."

"I swear! I swear! I swear!"

The other animals scampered away then, for these men in their plots and
plans were very terrible. "Poor old foolish fellow," cried the horse;
"he may keep his ears. He will need them to hear and count the blows
that are now to fall upon him."

The men unearthed the donkey. They beat him with their shovels. "Ho,
come on, slave." Encrusted with earth, yellow-eyed from fright, the
donkey limped toward his prison. His ears hung down like leaves of the
plantain during the great rain.

So, now, when you see a donkey with a church, a palace, and three
villages upon his back, and he goes with infinite slowness, moving but
one leg at a time, do not think him lazy. It is his pride.

A MAN BY THE NAME OF MUD.

Deep in a leather chair, the Kid sat looking out at where the rain
slanted before the dull brown houses and hammered swiftly upon an
occasional lonely cab. The happy crackle from the great and glittering
fireplace behind him had evidently no meaning of content for him. He
appeared morose and unapproachable, and when a man appears morose and
unapproachable it is a fine chance for his intimate friends. Three or
four of them discovered his mood, and so hastened to be obnoxious.

"What's wrong, Kid? Lost your thirst?"

"He can never be happy again. He has lost his thirst."

"That's right, Kid. When you quarrel with a man who can whip you, resort
to sarcastic reflection and distance."

They cackled away persistently, but the Kid was mute and continued to
stare gloomily at the street.

Once a man who had been writing letters looked up and said, "I saw your
friend at the Comique the other night." He waited a moment and then
added, "In back."

The Kid wheeled about in his chair at this information, and all the
others saw then that it was important. One man said with deep
intelligence, "Ho, ho, a woman, hey? A woman's come between the two
Kids. A woman. Great, eh?" The Kid launched a glare of scorn across the
room, and then turned again to a contemplation of the rain. His friends
continued to do all in their power to worry him, but