On it drifted in the egg-shell boat, and the voyage proved very enjoyable. “There is no protection against seasickness like having a steel stomach, and the constant thought of one’s worthiness,” it said. “The finer one is the more one can bear.”
Crash! went the egg-shell as a wagon passed over it. “Good heavens!” exclaimed the darning needle, “how that wheel presses on me! I shall be seasick after all. I am breaking!”
But it did not break, although the heavy wagon wheel passed over it. There it lay full length, and there it may stay.
THE RABBIT AND THE GREEDY MONKEY
ONCE upon a time there lived in the mountains a rabbit and a monkey who were great friends. As they sat by the road side one day hobnobbing together, they saw a man approaching with a bamboo pole over his shoulder, and at each end of the pole was a bundle hung by a string. There were bananas in one bundle and sugar in the other.
“Friend of my heart,” said the monkey to the rabbit, “do as I tell you. Go and sit in the road in front of that man, and as soon as he sees you, run. He will be sure to drop his load and follow. Then I will pick up his bundles and hide them, and when you come back we will share the contents between us.”
So the rabbit went and sat in the road, and when the man saw him, away the rabbit ran, and the man dropped his burden and gave chase. The monkey, who had been concealed in the tall wayside grass, pounced on the man’s bundles, climbed a tall tree with them, and began to gobble up the bananas and sugar they contained.
By and by the man came back, hot and empty-handed. When he saw that his goods, as well as the rabbit, were gone, he cursed loudly and went home to be scolded by his wife.
