Having put Snip to flight, the hedgehog quietly unrolled itself, thrust out its queer little head with the long snout, and crept along on its way rejoicing. As for Snip, I am quite sure he will never put his nose to the back of a hedgehog again, as long as he lives.

Charles Selwyn.



Little black monkey sat up in a tree;
Little black monkey, he grinned at me;
He put out his paw for a cocoanut,
And he dropped it down on my occiput.
The occiput is a part, you know,
Of the head which does on my shoulders grow;
And it's very unpleasant to have it hit,
Especially when there's no hair on it.


I took up my gun, and I said, "Now why,
Little black monkey, should you not die?
I'll hit you soon in a vital part,
It may be your head, or it may be your heart."
I steadied the gun, and I aimed it true:
The trigger it snapped, and the bullet it flew;
But just where it went to, I cannot tell,
For I never could see where that bullet fell.
Little black monkey still sat in the tree,
And placidly, wickedly, grinned at me:
I took up my gun, and walked away,
And postponed his death till another day.

Laura E. Richards.

THE LITTLE SCISSORS-GRINDER.