How to Tell Stories to Children, And Some Stories to Tell, page 98 by Sara Cone Bryant
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him. A stronger gust than usual had bent the blade downward close to the ground, and then something caught it and held it fast and with it the victorious Gnat. Oh, the desperate struggles he made to get free! Alas! he became more entangled than ever. You can guess what it was--a spider's web, hung out from the over- hanging branch of a tree. Then--flipperty- flopperty, flipperty--flopperty, flop, flip, flop-- down his stairs came cunning Father Spider and quickly gobbled up the little Gnat for his supper, and that was the end of him.
A strong Lion--and what overcame him? A GNAT.
A clever Gnat--and what overcame him? A SPIDER'S WEB! He who had beaten the strong lion had been overcome by the subtle snare of a spider's thread.
ESPECIALLY FOR CLASSES II. AND III.
THE CAT AND THE PARROT
Once there was a cat, and a parrot. And they had agreed to ask each other to dinner, turn and turn about: first the cat should ask the parrot, then the parrot should invite the cat, and so on. It was the cat's turn first.
Now the cat was very mean. He provided nothing at all for dinner except a pint of milk, a little slice of fish, and a biscuit. The parrot was too polite to complain, but he did not have a very good time.
When it was his turn to invite the cat, he cooked a fine dinner. He had a roast of meat, a pot of tea, a basket of fruit, and, best of all, he baked a whole clothes-basketful of little cakes!--little, brown, crispy, spicy cakes! Oh, I should say as many as five hundred. And he put four hundred and ninety-eight of the cakes before the cat, keeping only two for himself.
Well, the cat ate the roast, and drank the tea, and sucked the fruit, and then he began on the pile of cakes. He ate all the four hundred and ninety-eight cakes, and then he looked round and said:--
"I'm hungry; haven't you anything to eat?"
"Why," said the parrot, "here are my two cakes, if you want them?"
The cat ate up the two cakes, and then he licked his chops and said, "I a