Brothers of Pity and Other Tales of Beasts and Men

ble. It was in a wood, and on that side of the wood which is farthest from houses an

ening, but if business should take one along the hedge in the heat of the sun, there are as juicy and refreshing

vening, and the grass is refreshingly damped with dew, and scents are strong, and t

oat. And just opposite to the place where I furnished your dear mother's nest, is a small plantation of burdocks, on the underside of which stick the best flavoured

long grass on the edge of the wo

r know what it is to taste a pheasant's egg-to taste s

ar of. I do not say that I wish I had never tasted a pheasant's egg myself, but, when I think of traps baited with valerian, of my great-uncle's great-coat nailed to the keeper's door, of the keeper's hea

ul,-because the coppice foliage was fresh and tender overhead, and the old leaves soft and elastic to the prickles below,-because the young oaks sheltered us beh

robins ungathered by human feet and hands,-because the old fern-fronds faded below the fresh green plumes,-because the violets ripened seed,-because the trees were unmarked by woodmen and overpopulated with birds, and the water-rat sat up in the sun

rnoon nap one warm summer's day by the voices of men and women. Seve

ay be k

ay be p

e boys bird

-sellers of ferns,

collectors

d up in a bit of paper with them, and leave it behind

ting frogs, toads, newts, snails, and hedgehogs for the London

ere none of these things, and they did not go away. They were travelling tinker

to roll myself up so tightly that I got the cramp, whilst every spine on my back stood st

t. We must keep the children from gadding,

h to quit your side, my dear, in the ci

danger of indiscreet curiosity in his youth, than to find his

he first thing said by each on

us up in them. Then they will put us into a fire to bake, and when the clay turns red they will take us out. The clay will fall off and our coats with it. What remains they will eat-as we eat snails. You

but they would talk about the tinker

to tell them a story to keep them quiet. You can modu

a race with a hare, on opposite sides of a hedge, for the wager of a

"is, that our respected ancestor's head saved his heels, whi

rs. Hedgehog, who is amiable, and does not

Mr. Hedgehog took three steps and went back to his place. When the hare reached his end of the hedge, Mrs. Hedgehog, from the other side, called out, 'I'm here already.' Her voice and her coat were very like her husband's, and the hare was not observant enough to remark a slight difference of size and colour. The

hree of my children; and "What

I ran at them with my spines, for a father who is not an Encyclop?dia on al

. Mrs. Hedgehog and I had never seen tinkers, and we resolved to take an early opportunity some evening of sending

ty, she kept putting off our expedition till the children's spines should be harder;