one of the strangest things I ever saw. Some people think that the
pyramids were built to bury kings in, when they died. If they were
not built for that, I am sure I cannot tell what they were built for.

There is another odd thing in that country, not far from the pyramids.
It is called a _Sphinx_. I know you will say that the name must be
as odd as the thing is itself. Well, it _is_ odd, sure enough. The
Sphinx is a very large rock, made to look just like a lion with a
man's head. It is as large as the house I live in. There is nothing
but the head out of the ground. It was all out of the ground once,
when it was first made, but the sand has now covered up that part
which looks like a lion.

A great while ago, people used to call such things as these _gods_.
They used to pray to the Sphinx, just as if it was a god--just as if
it could hear anybody pray, the same as God does.

[Illustration]




THE WHIRLPOOL.


You have seen little whirlpools in the brook, I suppose. I once saw
a very large one, a great deal larger than any you ever saw in the
brook. It was in the North Sea. This whirlpool does mischief
sometimes. When vessels happen to get on the edge of it, they begin
to go round and round, all the time coming near the middle of the