At last the ngina went away. The porcupine remained coiled for a long time, for he had never been so frightened in his life. Then, when he thought there was no more danger, having listened carefully and heard no noise, he continued his way toward his burrow.
The porcupine met with no farther adventures on that day, and finally came to his burrow and saw his mate waiting for him. She said, “What makes you so late? I began to feel anxious.”
“Dear,” he replied, “I have had an awful time to-day. The wonder to me is that I have come back at all. I have never met with so many adventures and dangers in my life before; but, thanks to my wonderful coat, I am safe.” And after they had retreated into their burrow, he recounted to his mate what had happened to him during the day.
CHAPTER XIV
THE IPI, OR GIANT ANT-EATER
Darkness had come over the land. An ipi was listening inside of the opening of his burrow. After making sure that there was no danger, he came outside and stood still, waiting for his mate to come out also. His body was about five feet long, and covered on the upper surface and on the sides chiefly with large, thick, horny, yellowish, overlapping scales, these scales becoming smaller as they approached his head. He shook his body and the scales rattled, as they struck together.
Soon after, his mate came out, and they looked at each other and admired their wonderful coats.
The big ipi said to his mate: “Fortunate are we to possess such a good coat to cover our bodies. Our scales are so hard that after we have rolled ourselves up for protection, the teeth of our enemies cannot pierce them. They slip over them. It is our weapon of defence, as we ipis have no teeth.
“Strangely do we pass our lives. We have no choice of food, but feed on ants. We are gifted with an extensile tongue which we can shorten or lengthen at our will, and at its extremity it is covered with a glutinous secretion, and no ant when caught can ever escape. Oh, what a multitude of ants we have eaten since we were born!” he laughingly added. “What a number we need to satisfy our appetites!”
“Yes, indeed,” his mate replied, “and sometimes the ants become scarce, or we cannot find many, and we have to go back to our burrows with empty stomachs.”