If you can find an apple with a bump on one side, you may make a porcupine in less than five minutes, for all that is necessary is to stick the apple full of wooden toothpicks, and that work will be as easy as putting pins into a cushion. Let the bump on the apple form the head of the animal. Bend four toothpicks like [Fig. 361] and push them up into the apple to serve as legs and feet. Make the bent toothpicks balance the apple perfectly, so that the porcupine will stand firmly on its feet without other support. Use black pins for eyes and broom straws for the whiskers. Stick them into the head of the animal as shown in [Fig. 362]. Begin at the extreme back of the porcupine to insert the wooden toothpicks that are to serve as quills; although they are not hollow it makes very little difference, as this wee creature cannot shake them, causing the quills to knock against each other, as does the real animal when he wants to produce a rustling sound to warn off an enemy. Continue pushing in the toothpicks until the apple resembles [Fig. 362]. Keep the quills inclined backward and be careful not to have them stand out too far; slant the quills as much as possible, as the length of the porcupine must appear greater than the breadth. Now, if you could endow the animal with life, you would find that he was a vegetarian; that is, he could not eat meat, and you would be obliged to feed him on fruit, roots, and certain kinds of bark. You may be glad, though, that this porcupine is only a "make-believe one," for, if he lived, he would sleep all day and want to run about and take his exercise during the night; and, more than that, you would feel very sorry for the poor little fellow, because he would be extremely lonesome so far away from his native land of India, Africa, or some part of Southern Europe. So of the two, all things considered, the apple porcupine makes a better pet for the small members of the household.
| Fig. [364].—Shape of eye. | Fig. [365].—Apple seed in centre of eye. | Fig. [366].—The nose. | Fig. [367].—Sally's open mouth. |
Fig. [368].—Strip of paper rolled up tight.
Fig. [363].—Sally Walker's head.
Fig. [369].—Sally's curl.
A round, delicately pink-tinted apple is best for
Little Sally Walker's Head