wild ox from Madagascar, which takes the place of the horse. In
that country he is harnessed to small, light vehicles which he
draws along rapidly. This other is a buffalo from Caffraria. He is
a Jack-of-all-trades, sometimes ridden, sometimes driven,
sometimes laden, sometimes yoked to the plough. Those big striped
animals you see yonder are giraffes. Their long necks permit them,
without having recourse to a ladder, to eat the young shoots of
the mimosa, of which they are very fond, as well as the fresh
dates which usually grow at the tops of the palm-trees."

In this kind of dream a strange idea was at work in the brain of
the sleeper. With these object lessons were mingled strange,
quaint asides.

"If children had long necks like that, one couldn't keep the
jam-pots out of their way by putting them on the top shelves of
the cupboard."

"There," went on Yollande, "are the elephants. They are used for
all sorts of tasks. Their trunks, a continuation of their
nostrils, serve both for breathing and holding. It is, as it were,
an extremely sensitive and powerful hand."

"Great goodness me," cried Mother Etienne; "imagine having a hand
at the end of your nose! Would it have a glove on it and rings on
its fingers?"

All sorts of ridiculous ideas like that came into her head. The
little beaver, who builds his houses all along the Canadian
streams, appeared trowel in hand, mortar-board on his head, and