"No, don't hang him," says he; "for he killed a hare yesterday. And if
you don't believe me, I'll show you the hare alive in a basket."

So he took me into his garden to show me the curiosities. In one corner
there was a fox hatching eagle's eggs; in another there was an iron
apple tree, entirely covered with pears and lead; in the third there was
the hare which the dog killed yesterday alive in the basket; and in the
fourth there were twenty-four _hipper switches_ threshing tobacco, and
at the sight of me they threshed so hard that they drove the plug
through the wall, and through a little dog that was passing by on the
other side. I, hearing the dog howl, jumped over the wall; and turned it
as neatly inside out as possible, when it ran away as if it had not an
hour to live. Then he took me into the park to show me his deer: and I
remembered that I had a warrant in my pocket to shoot venison for his
majesty's dinner. So I set fire to my bow, poised my arrow, and shot
amongst them. I broke seventeen ribs on one side, and twenty-one and a
half on the other; but my arrow passed clean through without ever
touching it, and the worst was I lost my arrow: however, I found it
again in the hollow of a tree. I felt it; it felt clammy. I smelt it; it
smelt honey. "Oh, ho," said I, "here's a bee's nest," when out sprang a
covey of partridges. I shot at them; some say I killed eighteen; but I
am sure I killed thirty-six, besides a dead salmon which was flying over
the bridge, of which I made the best apple-pie I ever tasted.




Tom Hickathrift