"Did Pocahontas save the life
Of Captain Smith that day?
Did Cromwell take the reins of State,
As all the school-books say?
"Did Washington cut down the tree
That time in early May,
And say 'I cannot tell a lie?'
Now answer me I pray."
The Turtle only looked around,
And winked a lazy wink;
He seemed to say, "Don't bother me;
It hurts my brain to think."
"Why is it that all of you who live near here, like Mr. Crow's poetry so well?" your Aunt Amy asked, when Mrs. Goose had come to an end of the lines, and she replied thoughtfully:
"Well, really now, I can't say. Perhaps it's because he tells us it is the best ever written. Why, I've even heard old Mr. Turtle repeating the verses, and if he has lived five hundred years, surely he ought to know whether they are good or bad. There's one thing I do know, though, which is, that there's no person within two miles of this pond that can tell as many good stories as Mr. Crow. He's got one about a lazy Mr. Horse that means a good deal, if you take the trouble to think it over. Don't you want to hear it?"
Your Aunt Amy really enjoys hearing Mr. Crow's stories, and when she made such a statement, Mrs. Goose began the tale without delay.
THE LAZY MR. HORSE.
"'I don't see why I should work all the time, and others have nothing whatever to do,' said lazy Mr. Horse, one day. 'I would like to live a life of idleness as well as they.'
"Then he began to think it over, and decided to find some way to get rid of hauling the farm wagon day after day. It wasn't easy to do this, but after a time he hit upon a plan which seemed to be a good one. "'I'll make believe that I am sick,' he said, 'and then my master won't call on me for work.'
"So he hung his head, leaned against the side of the stall, and tried to look as if it hurt him to breathe. When his master came into the stable, he said: