first I must gather some firewood for dinner."

Then he went and gathered firewood, and more firewood, and more
firewood; and he piled it all up solid against the door and round the
house; and then he set fire to it!

And it smoked and burned till it smoked that old Alligator to smoked
herring!





THE LARKS IN THE CORNFIELD


There was once a family of little Larks who lived with their mother in a
nest in a cornfield. When the corn was ripe the mother Lark watched very
carefully to see if there were any sign of the reapers' coming, for she
knew that when they came their sharp knives would cut down the nest and
hurt the baby Larks. So every day, when she went out for food, she told
the little Larks to look and listen very closely to everything that
went on, and to tell her all they saw and heard when she came home.

One day when she came home the little Larks were much frightened.

"Oh, Mother, dear Mother," they said, "you must move us away to-night!
The farmer was in the field to-day, and he said, 'The corn is ready to
cut; we must call in the neighbours to help.' And then he told his son
to go out to-night and ask all the neighbours to come and reap the corn