THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS

THIS, O Best Beloved, is another story of the High and
Far-Off Times. In the very middle of those times was a Stickly-
Prickly Hedgehog, and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon,
eating shelly snails and things. And he had a friend, a Slow-
Solid Tortoise, who lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon,
eating green lettuces and things. And so that was all right,
Best Beloved. Do you see?

But also, and at the same time, in those High and Far-Off Times,
there was a Painted Jaguar, and he lived on the banks of the
turbid Amazon too; and he ate everything that he could catch.
When he could not catch deer or monkeys he would eat frogs and
beetles; and when he could not catch frogs and beetles he went to
his Mother Jaguar, and she told him how to eat hedgehogs and
tortoises.

She said to him ever so many times, graciously waving her tail,
'My son, when you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the
water and then he will uncoil, and when you catch a Tortoise you
must scoop him out of his shell with your paw.' And so that was
all right, Best Beloved.

One beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon, Painted
Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise