a great gusty shout, and said, "No,
no, I am not the strongest; the Wall that man has made is stronger than I;
I cannot make him move, with all my blowing; go to the Wall, little
brother!"

And the Rat King climbed down the sky-path again, and travelled and
travelled across the earth till he came to the Wall. It was quite near his
own ricefield.

"What do you want, little brother?" grumbled the Wall when he saw him.

"I come to offer you the hand of the princess, my daughter, because you
are the most powerful person in the world, and no one else is good
enough."

"Ugh, ugh," grumbled the Wall, "I am not the strongest; the big grey Rat
who lives in the cellar is stronger than I. When he gnaws and gnaws at me
I crumble and crumble, and at last I fall; go to the Rat, little brother."

And so, after going all over the world to find the strongest person, the
Rat King had to marry his daughter to a rat, after all; but the princess
was very glad of it, for she wanted to marry the grey Rat, all the time.

THE FROG AND THE OX

Once a little Frog sat by a big Frog, by the side of a pool. "Oh, father,"
said he, "I have just seen the biggest animal in the world; it was as big
as a mountain, and it had horns on its head, and it had hoofs divided in
two."

"Pooh, child," said the old Frog, "that was only Farmer White's Ox. He is
not so very big. I could easily make myself as big as he." And he blew,
and he blew, and he blew, and swelled himself out.

"Was he as big as that?" he asked the little Frog.

"Oh, much bigger," said the little Frog.

The old Frog blew, and blew, and blew again, and swelled himself out, more
than ever.

"Was he bigger than that?" he said.

"Much, much bigger," said the little Frog.

"I can make myself as big," said the old Frog. And once more he blew, and
blew, and blew, and swelled himself out,--and he burst!

Self-conceit leads to self-destruction.

THE FIRE-BRINGER[1]

[Footnote 1: Adapted from _The Basket Woman_, by Mary Austin.]

This is the Indian story of how fire was brought to the tribes. It was
long, long ago, when men and beasts talked together with understanding,
and the grey Coyote was friend and counsellor of man.

There was a Boy of the tribe who was swift of foot and keen of eye, and he
and the Coyote ranged the wood together. They saw the men catching fish in
the creeks with their hands, and the women digging roots with sharp
stones. This was in summer. But when w