o."_

"Can't quite hear you; won't you come a _little_ closer?" said
the fox in a feeble voice, as he stretched out his neck towards
Johnny-cake, and put one paw behind his ear.

Johnny-cake came up close, and leaning towards the fox screamed out:
I'VE OUTRUN AN OLD MAN, AND AN OLD WOMAN, AND A LITTLE BOY, AND TWO
WELL-DIGGERS, AND TWO DITCH-DIGGERS, AND A BEAR, AND A WOLF, AND I CAN
OUTRUN YOU TOO-O-O!"

"You can, can you?" yelped the fox, and he snapped up the Johnny-cake
in his sharp teeth in the twinkling of an eye.



EARL MAR'S DAUGHTER

One fine summer's day Earl Mar's daughter went into the castle garden,
dancing and tripping along. And as she played and sported she would
stop from time to time to listen to the music of the birds. After a
while as she sat under the shade of a green oak tree she looked up and
spied a sprightly dove sitting high up on one of its branches. She
looked up and said: "Coo-my-dove, my dear, come down to me and I will
give you a golden cage. I'll take you home and pet you well, as well
as any bird of them all." Scarcely had she said these words when the
dove flew down from the branch and settled on her shoulder, nestling
up against her neck while she smoothed its feathers. Then she took it
home to her own room.