"Oh, you did!" interrupted the hen, with a derisive cackle. "Pray how
did you manage it?"

The cock felt injured in his self-esteem, and, turning his back upon
the hen, addressed himself to a brood of young chickens.

"I once laid an egg--"

The chickens chirped incredulously, and passed on. The insulted bird
reddened in the wattles with indignation, and strutting up to the
patriarch of the entire barn-yard, repeated his assertion. The
patriarch nodded gravely, as if the feat were an every-day affair, and
the other continued:

"I once laid an egg alongside a water-melon, and compared the two. The
vegetable was considerably the larger."

This fable is intended to show the absurdity of hearing all a man has
to say.




XXVI.


[Illustration]

Seeing himself getting beyond his depth, a bathing naturalist called