66 being that feeds upon the earth. Two herds of men will often meet and shake the earth with noise, and fill the earth with fire. When you hear noise, and see fire, with flashes along the ground, hasten to the place with your swiftest wing, for men are surely destroying one another; you will then find the ground smoking with blood and covered with carcases, of which many are dismembered and mangled for the convenience of the vulture." "But when men have killed their prey," said the pupil," why do they not eat it? When the wolf has killed a sheep, he suffers not the vulture to touch it till he has satisfied himself. Is not man another kind of wolf?" Man," said the mother, "is the only beast who kills that which he does not devour, and this quality makes him so much a benefactor to our species." If men kill our prey, and lay it in our way," said the young one, "what need shall we have of labouring for ourselves?" "Because man will sometimes," replied the mother, "remain for a long time quiet in his den. The old vulture will tell you when you are to watch his motions. When you see men in great numbers moving close together, like a flight of storks, you may conclude that they are hunting, and that you will soon revel in human blood." But still," said the young one, "I would gladly know the reason of this mutual slaughter. I could never kill what I could not eat." "My child," said the mother, "this is a question which I cannot answer, though I am reckoned the most subtle bird of the mountain. There is in every herd, one that gives directions to the rest, and seems to be more eminently delighted with a wide carnage. What it is that entitles him to such a pre-eminence we know not; he is seldom the biggest or the swiftest, but he shows by his eagerness and diligence that he is, more than any of the others, a friend to the vulture."-JOHNSON. 66 THE LION AND THE JACKALS. Once upon a time, in a great, jungle, there lived a great lion. He was Rajah (king) of all the country round; and every day he used to leave his den, in the deepest shadow of the rocks, and roar with a loud, angry voice; and when he roared, the other animals in the jungle, who were all his subjects, got very much frightened, and ran here and there; and the lion would pounce upon them, and kill them, and eat them up for his dinner. This went on for a long, long time, until, at last, there were no living creatures left in the jungle but two little jackals, male and female. A very hard time of it the poor little jackals had, running this way and that to escape the terrible lion; and every day the little female jackal would say to her husband, “I am afraid he will catch us to day, do you hear how he is roaring? Oh dear, oh dear!" And he would answer her, "Never fear; I will take care of you. Let us run on a mile or two. Come, come-quick, quick, quick." And they would both run away as fast as they could. After some time spent in this way, they found, however, one fine day, that the lion was so close upon them that they could not escape. Then the little female jackal said, "Husband, husband, I feel very frightened. The lion is so angry, he will certainly kill us at once. do?" But he answered, "Cheer up, we Come, and I will show you how we may selves yet. manage it." What can we can save our So what did these cunning little jackals do, but they went to the great lion's den, and when he saw them coming, he began to roar, and shake his mane, and he said, "You little wretches, come and be eaten at once! I have had no dinner for three whole days, and all that time I have been running over hill and dale to find you. Come and be eaten I say!" and he lashed his tail, and gnashed his teeth, and looked very terrible indeed. Then the male jackal, creeping quite close up to him, said, "Oh great sir, we all know you are our master, and we would have come at your bidding long ago, but indeed, sir, there is a much bigger lion even than you in this jungle, and he tried to catch hold of us and eat us up, and frightened us so much that we were obliged to run away." 66 What do you mean ?" growled the lion. "There is nó king in this jungle but me." "Ah, sire," answered the jackal, “in truth one would think so, for you are very dreadful. Your very voice is death. But it is as we say, for we, with our own eyes, have seen one with whom you could not compete; whose equal you can no more be than we are yours; whose face is as flaming fire, his step as thunder, and his power supreme." "It is impossible!" interrupted the old lion; "but show me this rival of whom you speak so much, that I may destroy him instantly!" Then the little jackals ran on before him until they reached a great well, and pointing down to his own reflection in the water, they said "See sire, there lives the terrible king of whom we spoke." When the lion looked down the well he became very angry, for he thought he saw another lion there. He roared and shook his great mane, and the shadow lion shook his, and looked terribly defiant. At last, overpowered with rage at the violence of his opponent, the lion sprang down to kill him at once, but no other lion was there, only the treacherous reflection, and the sides of the well were so steep that he could not get out again to punish the two jackals, who peeped over the top. After struggling for some time in the deep water, he sank to rise no more. And the little jackals threw stones down upon him from above, dancing and jumping with delight.-FRERE'S OLD DECCAN DAYS. TIME. The lapse of time and rivers is the same, And a wide ocean swallows both at last. A difference strikes at length the musing heart; BUCKWHEAT.-A LEGEND. It frequently happens, when one crosses through a field of buckwheat, after a storm, that one sees it looking quite black and singed, just as if a fierce flame had passed over it, and then a countryman says: "That comes of the lightning!" But how did it come about? Well, I will tell you what a sparrow told me, and the sparrow heard it from an aged willow, that stood in a meadow next to a field of buckwheat, and is still standing for the matter of that. It is a most venerable, large willow, though crippled, and in years; his trunk is split right through the middle, and grass and weeds are peeping out through the cleft. The tree is bending forwards and its branches are hanging down to the ground-just like long green hair. There grew corn in the surrounding fields, not only rye and barley, but oats-pretty oats that when ripe. look like a flight of little yellow birds sitting on a branch. The harvest was blessed with plenty, and the heavier and richer the ears of corn, the lower did they bow their heads in pious humility. Now there was a field of buckwheat just opposite the old willow. The buckwheat did not bow its head like the rest of the corn, but boasted itself in pride and arrogance. "I am as rich as the other ears of corn," said he: “and, moreover, I am much more sightly. My flowers are as pretty as apple-blossoms, and it is a treat to look at me and mine. Do you know of anything more beautiful than our selves, you old willow?" And the willow nodded his head, as much as to say: Indeed I do!" But the buckwheat proudly said "stupid tree! He is so old that the grass is growing on his body." There now arose a violent storm. All the flowers of the field folded up their leaves, or bent their little heads downwards, while the storm swept over them; but the buckwheat stood erect in all its pride. "Bow your head, as we do," said the flowers. "There is no need of that for me," answered the buckwheat. "Hang your head down as we do," cried the corn. "The angel of the storm is approaching! He has wings that reach from the clouds above, down to our earth; and he will smite you before you have time to beg for mercy!" "But I do not choose to bow down," said the buckwheat. "Fold up you flowers, and bend your leaves," said the old willow. "Do not look at the lightning, when the cloud bursts open; even human beings dare not do that, for |