"My experience certainly is greater than Cleopatra's," said Fatimah, addressing the sparrow, "and I would warn her against allowing her baby to lie overlong in the sun. It is apt to crack the skin. I remember when my first child was born—"
"Why, bless my eyes!" interrupted Pwit-Pwit, with a giggle, "Cleopatra asked me to warn you against letting your baby get its feet wet."
"Well, I never!" gasped Fatimah in astonishment, while Caliph opened his mouth till the Princess told Toots in a whisper that she could see clear into his stomach, and laughed till the tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Well, I must be going," said the sparrow. "Everybody is dying for the news. Have you named the baby yet, Fatimah?"
"She shall be called Delilah, for her beauty," said the proud mother, as her baby came gasping and sputtering to the surface. As Fatimah put down her nose for her child to clamber upon, she said in a tone of loving triumph:
"So-so, my child, it seems you still have some use for mother. Now will you be good?"
Again the lion cubs roared at Pwit-Pwit as he was passing, demanding the news:
"Where did the hippopotamus baby come from? Did somebody leave the door open?"
"Fatimah found it at the bottom of her swimming tank," answered the sparrow, and he passed on, leaving the cubs staring at each other in wonderment.