“Yes, she is. I suspected she would prove a little tough,” answered Terrapin, with a chuckle. “But don’t be bashful. Eat away, and welcome.”
Again Miss Crane tugged at the rubber to tear it, but the more it was stretched, the more severe were the shocks she received, and her left eye was almost blinded.
“Well, I never,” exclaimed Miss Crane. “She is too tough altogether.”
“Try again,” cried Terrapin. “Try again; little by little, it is said, a fly eats a cow’s tail. You will get a rare and tender bit in time.”
Miss Crane thus pressed, did so, and seizing a piece lay back, and drew on it so hard that when the rubber at last slipped, it bounded back with such force, that she was sent sprawling to the ground.
“Why, what is the matter?” asked Terrapin, pretending to be astonished. “She is tough, I admit; but loh! our family are famous for toughness. However, the tougher it is, the longer it lasts on the stomach. Try again, sister Crane; I warrant you will manage it next time.”
“Oh, bother your old ma. Eat her yourself. I have had enough of that kind of meat.”
“You give it up, do you?” cried Terrapin. “Well, well, it is a pity to throw good meat away. Maybe, if I keep it longer it will get tenderer by and by.”
They thus parted, Terrapin bearing his share of rubber away in one direction, and Miss Crane sadly disgusted, striding grandly off in another, but looking keenly about for something to satisfy her hunger.
When she had gone a great distance a parrot flew across her path, and perching on a branch near her, cried out, “Oh, royal bird, say since when has rubber become the food of the bird-king’s family?”