Books: The Junior Classics Volume 8

S >> Selected and arranged by William Patten >> The Junior Classics Volume 8

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"I once took part in a pilgrimage myself," said Aleppo
reflectively, when the last of the cavalcade was out of sight.
"Even for me, trained as I was to go long distances, it was a hard
struggle to endure to the end. There was a terrible sand storm, and
water failed; the wells, when we reached them, were all dried up,
and but few of the pilgrims survived."

Aleppo paused. He was thinking of the strange fascination of the
desert in spite of all its terrors, and of the wonderful pictures
he had seen in the desert sky that men called "mirages." They were
of shady groves and flowing rivers, and many a time had Aleppo seen
them as he pressed on through the sands, with head held high, so
that he might scan the horizon for the longed-for oasis. He turned
to speak of these to Phil; but his little companion, he saw, had
meantime drifted off to dreamland.

SOME ANIMAL STORIES

THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT

By Beatrix Potter

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names
were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.

They lived with their mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of
a very big fir-tree.

"Now, my dears," said old Mrs. Rabbit, one morning, "you may go
into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's
garden; your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by
Mrs. McGregor. Now run along, and don't get into mischief. I am
going out."

Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella, and went
through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown bread
and five currant buns.

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went
down the lane to gather blackberries; but Peter, who was very
naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed
under the gate. First he ate some lettuces and some French beans;
and then he ate some radishes; and then, feeling rather sick, he
went to look for some parsley.

But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr.
McGregor!

Mr. McGregor was on his hands and knees planting out young
cabbages, but he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and
calling out, "Stop thief!"

Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the
garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.

He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and the other shoe
among the potatoes. After losing them, he ran on four legs and went
faster, so that I think he might have got away altogether if he had
not unfortunately run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by the
large buttons on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass
buttons, quite new. Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big
tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly Sparrows, who
flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself.

Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which he intended to pop upon
the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his
jacket behind him, and rushed into the tool-shed, and jumped into a
can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in, if it had not
had so much water in it.

Mr. McGregor was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in the
tool-shed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower-pot. He began to turn
them over carefully, looking under each.

Presently Peter sneezed--"Kertyschoo!" Mr. McGregor was after him
in no time, and tried to put his foot upon Peter, who jumped out of
a window, upsetting three plants. The window was too small for Mr.
McGregor, and he was tired of running after Peter. He went back to
his work.

Peter sat down, to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with
fright, and he had not the least idea which way to go. Also he was
very damp with sitting in that can.

After a time he began to wander about, going lippity--lippity--not
very fast, and looking all round. He found a door in a wall; but it
was locked, and there was no room for a fat little Rabbit to
squeeze underneath.

An old Mouse was running in and out over the stone door-step,
carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter asked her
the way to the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth that
she could not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter began
to cry.

Then he tried to find his way straight across the garden, but he
became more and more puzzled. Presently, he came to a pond where
Mr. McGregor filled his water-cans. A white Cat was staring at some
Gold-fish; she sat very, very still, but now and then the tip of
her tail twitched as if it were alive. Peter thought it best to go
away without speaking to her, he had heard about Cats from his
cousin, little Benjamin Bunny.

He went back towards the tool-shed, but suddenly, quite close to
him, he heard the noise of a hoe--scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch,
scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the bushes. But presently, as
nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a wheelbarrow, and
peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions.
His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!

Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow, and started
running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some
black-currant bushes.

Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did not
care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the
wood outside the garden.

Mr. McGregor hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a
scare-crow to frighten the Blackbirds.

Peter never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home
to the big fir-tree.

He was so tired that he flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the
floor of the rabbit-hole, and shut his eyes. His mother was busy
cooking; she wondered what he had done with his clothes. It was the
second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter had lost in a
fortnight!

I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening.

His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave
a dose of it to Peter!

"One tablespoonful to be taken at bed-time."

But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and
blackberries, for supper.

LIONS AND TIGERS

Anonymous

The Lioness was wide awake, but two of the little Lion Cubs were
rather sleepy. The third one however, who had perched himself on
his mother's back, was quite livety: he had not had quite so much
for dinner as the others.

"Mother," he began, "what do all these two-legged things come and
look at us for? And why have they got such funny skins? Do they
ever have anything to eat, mother--bones, and things like that?"

"Don't purr so loudly, my dear," said the Lioness, or you'll wake
your brother and sister. These two-legged things are people--the
big ones are called men and women, and the little ones are boys and
girls. They don't do us any harm; indeed, some of them are very
kind to us--they give us our dinner, and clean straw in our houses,
and help to make us comfortable. They do their best, poor things,
so you mustn't growl at them."

"Look, mother," said the Lion Cub, "that small thing with the white
skin has thrown something into our house! What does she think we
shall do with it?"

"Don't take any notice of her, my dear." said the Lioness, blinking
her eyes at the little girl (who was "the small thing with the
white skin"); "it's only something that they call bread--she
thinks that we shall eat it. But it's really only fit for elephants
or bears; _we_ don't eat stuff like that. I tasted it once, I
remember, but that was a long time ago, when I was very, very
hungry, and glad to get anything I could."

"When was that, mother?" said the baby Lion. "Do tell me about it."

"Ah, I didn't always live in a house like this, my dear," replied
the Lioness. "I was born far away from here, in a place called
Africa, and I was quite grown-up before I saw a man at all. We used
to live very happily there in my young days--though it wasn't such
an easy life as that we have now. There was no one to bring you
your dinner regularly every day; no, you had to catch your dinner
first and then eat it, and sometimes we had to go a long time with
nothing but a very small antelope or perhaps a bird or two."

The Lion Cub's eyes opened wide with astonishment.

"What is Africa like, mother?" he said. "Did anyone else live
there?"

"Dear me, yes," answered the Lioness. "All sorts of creatures.
There were antelopes and snakes, and several of our own relations,
and hosts of others besides."

The Lion Cub thought for a little while. Then he said, "Why did you
come here, then, mother?"

The Lioness growled slightly. From the next cage there came a loud
roar, waking the two sleeping Lion Cubs, and startling the other so
much that he tumbled off his mother's back.

"Ho, ho, ho!" said a deep voice. "I remember! It seemed such a nice
fat young calf, didn't it?" It was the big Lion next door. The
Lioness seemed quite vexed; she had not known that the Lion was
listening. But he had been, and now he seemed to be in a very good
humor, and went on purring and talking to himself, but the little
Lion Cubs could easily hear what he was saying, and paid the
greatest attention.

"Yes," he went on, "and it _was_ a nice fat young calf, too; I
saw it first, and I remember thinking that it would make such a
fine dinner for us both. I never dreamed that there were hunters
about, and it was a trap to catch us; of course I was quite young
in those days. But it was a trap, and we were both caught."

"I needn't have been caught," growled the Lioness from the back of
her cage, "if I hadn't come to see what you were doing."

"Ah, well," said the Lion. "We were both of us deceived. And then
they put us into small, strong cages and took us over the great big
water and brought us here. I often think of the days when we were
free, but we get along very well here, don't we? It's no use making
a fuss about what you can't help, and really these two-legged
creatures are very amusing."

"Yes," said the Lioness, still with a little growl in her voice,
"but one needn't pretend that one wouldn't rather be free. Those
pumas, now, are always saying how much better it is always to live
in a cage."

The Lion shook his mane scornfully. "Pumas!" he said. "Who would
take any notice of what a puma would say? They call themselves
'friends of man!' They're only friendly because they daren't be
anything else."

"Do they come from Africa, too, mother?" said the Lion Cub.

"No, they live in America, my dear," replied the Lioness. "But
come, it's time we went out into the garden at the back of the
house. You must have a little fresh air." So saying, she stalked
through the little door at the back of the cage and went out,
followed by her Cubs, into the open space beyond.

"Good afternoon," said a lazy, sleepy voice from the other side of
the bars. "It's quite a fine day, isn't it?"

The three little Cubs all turned with a start. There was the Tiger,
stretched out in the sun, looking at them with a sleepy sort of
smile.

Of course, it wasn't a garden really, it was just a large open-air
cage, but there were rocks and trees dotted about all over it, and
it certainly looked very pleasant in the warm afternoon sunshine.

He was a very handsome fellow, was the Tiger, and he evidently knew
it, too. The Lioness greeted him pleasantly, and said with a purr
as she stretched herself out on the ground, "These young people of
mine were just asking me all sorts of questions; perhaps you can
tell them something interesting that has happened to you?"

"Ee-yow!" yawned the Tiger.

"Do, please," begged the little Lion Cubs, poking their noses
against the bars. "Do you come from Africa, too?" added the first
one.

"No," answered the Tiger, "I come from India. I used to live in the
jungle."

"And were you caught in a trap, too?" said the eager little Lion
Cub.

"Gr-r-r-!" said the Tiger, suddenly beginning to growl. "There he
goes!" It was an Elephant, which was slowly walking along in the
distance with a number of children on his back. The Tiger looked
after him with a very angry look in his eyes, and not until he was
quite out of sight did he become quiet again. Then he said to the
Lioness, "Excuse me, but I never see that fellow without thinking
how it was one of his relations that helped to capture me. Ah, I
shall never forget it. I wasn't full-grown then, and I used to
live with my father and mother and my young brother in a cosy
little home in the jungle. Most of the men-creatures who lived
near us over there were brown, you know, not white like the ones
we see over here. My father was getting old, and food had become
very scarce. One night my father paid a visit to one of the
men-creatures' villages and brought us home a goat, and the next
night he brought us a sheep. It seemed very easy to get food that
way, but the men-creatures didn't like it, I suppose."

"Oh, sir," said the smallest Lion Cub, "please tell me, did you
ever eat a man?"

The Tiger smiled. "No," he said, "I never did, but my father--".

"Don't you think we'd better get on with the story?" put in the
Lioness.

"Well," said the Tiger, "one day there was a dreadful
noise--shouting and banging of drums and all sorts of things, and
crowds of the brown men came into the jungle, waking us up out of
our afternoon nap. We were very much startled at first, but my
father told us not to be afraid, and said he would look after us.
Presently we saw one of those wretched elephants coming along, and,
would you believe it, he had actually allowed some of the white men
to get into a sort of castle on his back, where they could shoot at
us in safety! Of course, it was no good. My poor father was killed,
and so was my mother; they captured me, and I was brought here over
the water, and here I have been ever since."

The Tiger stretched himself out at full length and yawned again; he
seemed to be quite tired by his long speech.

"Don't you ever want to be back again in the jungle?" said one of
the Lion Cubs.

"Well," said the Tiger, "sometimes, when it's cold and damp and
foggy, I do. But it's fairly comfortable here, on the whole. Now, I
must wash myself." And he began to lick his coat, just as a cat
does, and the Lion Cubs, seeing that there was nothing more to be
got out of him, that afternoon, started a game between themselves.

APES AND MONKEYS

Anonymous

"Who was it that pulled my tail?" said the cross old Monkey sitting
in the corner of the cage. "I won't have my tail pulled, do you
hear? If any one pulls my tail again, I'll--"

"Well, what will you do, Crosspatch?" said a small brown Monkey.
"Do tell us; we should like to know." And he threw a nut-shell at
the cross old Monkey, hitting him on the nose and making him
crosser than ever.

"Ill complain to the keeper," said the old Monkey. "I'll steal all
your dinners. I'll--I'll--I'll do something dreadful to you."

"Oh, go along," said the little brown Monkey. "Let's have a game at
Touch Tails. You're 'he'!" And he gave a hard tug at the cross old
Monkey's tail, then darted away up to the top of the cage, with the
old one after him and a number of other small Monkeys after
_him_, giving a pull at his tail every now and then, till he
didn't know which one to attack first, and finally gave it up as a
bad job, and retired to his corner again, jabbering away to himself
as to what he would do, while all the others danced about with
delight and swung to and fro on the ropes, chuckling with
enjoyment.

"What a noise those Monkeys do make, to be sure!" said the
Chimpanzee to the Orang-Utangs. "I really think something should be
done to stop them."

"Here comes some of these little men-things!" said one of the
Orang-Utangs. "What queer things they are! Are they really
relations of ours, do you suppose?"

"I don't know," replied the Chimpanzee, "but I must say they are
very poor relations, if they are. Whatever do they put on all those
ridiculous things for?"

"Yes," said the eldest Orang-Utang. "And what very short arms they
have! I don't believe they'd be any good at swinging about on
trees, do you?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't," answered the Chimpanzee. "And then their
feet! Do you know they can't use their feet at all for holding on
to anything as we can? Isn't it silly? They're so ashamed of them
that they cover them up in things they call boots; it must be very
uncomfortable."

"Have you noticed what they do with nuts?" said the smallest
Orang-Utang. "There was a boy here once who wanted to eat a nut,
and he was going to crack it in the ordinary way, when his mother
said to him, 'Don't do that, my dear, you'll spoil your teeth!'
Just fancy!"

"Ah, but have you ever seen one of the very small men-things?" said
the Chimpanzee. "The things they call 'long-clothes babies'! They
are the most absurd creatures you ever saw in your life. They are
covered with white things (which must get dreadfully in the way),
and they can't do a single thing for themselves. They can't walk,
and they can't talk, and they don't eat fruits--they just lie
still, and sometimes they feebly kick about and wave their funny
little arms, and the strange part of it is that their mothers and
fathers seem quite proud of them. I'm very glad we're not like
that."

"So am I," said the Orang-Utangs. "But why do these men-things wear
such a lot of things over their skins?" said the eldest.

"Oh, they don't know any better," said the Chimpanzee. "You know
they are not nearly so strong as we are."

"Ah, but they're very artful, some of them," said the eldest
Orang-Utang. "I should think if they were caught young, you might
be able to teach them to do quite a lot of tricks."

"I dare say," replied the Chimpanzee. "Only I expect it would take
a lot of trouble and time."

"I'm glad I'm not a man-thing," said the youngest Orang-Utang. "It
must be horrid to have to wear clothes."

"There are those Monkeys again," said the Chimpanzee. "I wonder
what they are doing now. They are always up to some game or other.
I declare they are nearly as foolish as men."

The Monkeys seemed to be all running after each other, fighting and
squabbling, and grabbing at lettuce and pieces of banana, and
making grimaces at each other, and scolding away until the
Chimpanzee could scarcely hear the sound of its own voice.

"Oh, no," said the small Orang-Utang, who was a kind-hearted little
fellow, "they are very foolish, but I shouldn't say they were as
bad as that!"

"Well, no, perhaps not," said the Chimpanzee.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS AND THE RHINOCEROS

Anonymous

"Ugh!" grunted the big Hippopotamus. "I think I shall have a bath.
Oh, dear me, I feel so sleepy!" And he opened his mouth and gave a
tremendous yawn.

"Well!" said a deep, gruff voice from the other side of the
railings. "Well! If I had a mouth as large and as ugly as that I
would keep it shut, at any rate."

It was the Rhinoceros, next door. The Hippopotamus and he didn't
get on very well together; indeed, they were always quarreling, so
that it was just as well that there were bars between them.

The Hippopotamus turned round angrily. "Ugly?" he said. "Who are
you calling ugly? I am sure I'm just as pretty as you are, with
that great horn sticking out of your nose. I don't think it looks
at all nice."

"H'm!" said the Rhinoceros. "I don't care if it doesn't. It's been
very useful to me, all the same."

"Well," returned the Hippopotamus, "and so has my mouth, so there!
If it had been any smaller, I shouldn't have been able to get it
round, for it was rather a large boat."

"Whatever are you talking about?" demanded the Rhinoceros. "Look
here! Let's stop quarreling for a bit, and you shall tell me your
story and I'll tell you mine. Fire away!"

"Ah, that's just what the men did," said the Hippopotamus. "We were
all swimming in the river, when they came down in their boat. It
was what they call a canoe (so the Flamingoes told me), and most of
the men in it were black; but there was one white man who had a
curious stick in his hand, which he every now and then would point
at some bird or animal, and then he made tire come out of the
stick, and the bird or animal generally got hurt.

"I lay in the water watching them, when, all at once, the white man
pointed his stick at my brother, and before you could say
'crocodile,' my brother was floating away down the stream with a
bullet in his head. The men in the boat paddled away after him, but
that was more than I could stand, so I went after them. I saw the
white man point his stick at me, but I dived in time and came up
just beside them; then it was that my mouth came in so handy. I
just opened it quite wide and then I closed it again, and, well,
somehow the boat was upset and the men were all kicking about in
the water, splashing and shouting and making no end of a fuss. But
I let them go that time, I only wanted to give them a lesson. Now,
it's your turn. How did your horn come in useful?"

"Oh, my adventure was on land, of course," said the Rhinoceros, who
had been much interested in the Hippo's story. "I was snoozing, one
afternoon, at home, when I heard a curious noise, and I saw some of
those black men you talked about, followed by a white one on a
horse. Well, before I had time to do or say anything, the white man
pointed his gun at me (that's what they call the stick that the
fire comes out of), and the next moment I felt a bullet knock
against my side. Of course, it didn't hurt me--that's the advantage
of having a skin like mine; but it made me very angry. So I just
got up and ran at the gentleman of the horse; he was very much
surprised, and so was the horse, especially when I gave him a prod
with this horn of mine. He turned right round and galloped away as
fast as he could go, with the black men after him. Of course, I
didn't take the trouble to run after them. But, you see, my horn
does come in useful sometimes."

"Ugh!" grunted the Hippopotamus. "I suppose it does. But it isn't
pretty, all the same."

"Well, anyway it's better than your mouth," replied the Rhinoceros,
getting angry again.

"But I can swim!" said the Hippopotamus.

"But you haven't got such a tough skin as I have," replied the
Rhinoceros. And they went on quarreling until the keeper came with
their dinner.

THE GIRAFFE

Anonymous

I am a Giraffe and my name is Daisy. I come from a hot country a
long way off, called Africa; I am quite grown up now and shall not
get any bigger. Don't you think I am big enough as I am? I do.
There is no other animal which is as tall as I am; I am taller than
the Elephant or the Camel, but of course I am not as strong as the
Elephant is.

You need not be at all afraid of me, because I will not hurt you.
No, thank you, I do not want to eat you up at all; I should not
like to eat little boys and girls; indeed, I don't think I could if
I tried, and I am sure I do not want to try. I eat leaves and grass
and hay and things like that; I can reach the leaves of the trees
because I have such a long neck.

One day a lady came to see me here and she had some very
nice-looking green things on the top of her head, and I thought
that I would like to eat them as they looked so nice; so I just
bent my head over the top of the bars of my cage and took a bite at
them. But they were not at all nice, really, and the lady made such
a fuss! She thought I was going to eat her up, I believe. I heard
afterwards that the things I had eaten were the flowers on her hat,
and they were not real flowers at all. I don't think people ought
to have such things in their hats if they don't want us to eat
them. Of course, I thought the lady had brought them on purpose for
me, so I didn't see why I shouldn't eat them. But I don't think
that lady will come quite close to my cage again.

I lived here alone for quite a long time, because they would not
get a playmate for me. You see, there are not nearly so many of my
family now as there used to be, and then we don't like traveling
over the sea at all. But now I have a playmate and he is a very
nice little chap; of course he is not as fine and big as I am, but
he will grow up in time and I shall be very glad to have some
company. I can really run quite fast when I have room, but here
there isn't room enough; and I don't very much mind, because I'm
quite content to walk about gently, thank you. And then I have to
take great care of my health, you know, because I'm rather delicate
and not like the Ostrich, who seems to be able to eat almost
anything. Why, he tells me that he is very fond of rusty nails, and
as for pennies he considers them most delicious. It's a very funny
sort of taste, I think. No, it's no good for you to offer me nuts,
thank you, because I couldn't crack them.

My horns, were you asking about? We all have horns, both gentlemen
and lady Giraffes, but they are always quite small, like mine.
They're not much use to us, you know, for when we want to fight any
one we use our feet--we can give very strong kicks with our
fore-feet, if we like. But, on the whole, we don't like fighting;
we find that it's much safer to run away--you see, we can run so
fast that there are not many creatures who can catch us.

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