play, that they never heard the clock strike, and continued playing so long till they were afraid to go in; so at last they agreed to play truant, and they all went together a bird's nesting. The first nest they found was a poor little Robin Redbreast's, which one of them, whose name was Harry Harmless, and who was not so hard-heated as the rest, (indeed his chief fault was keeping company with these wicked boys,) persuaded them not to destroy; for, says he, a Robin Redbreast is such a pretty innocent bird, that I can't find in my heart to do it any harm, and it was that good-natured bird that covered over the poor little Children in the Wood with leaves, when they were starved to death: Pooh, says George Graceless and Tom Tiger, what signifies talking such stuff as that, and down they pulled the poor Robin's eggs, nest and all, and left the pretty little bird making such piteous moans, as would have melted a heart of stone; but they turned a deaf ear to his tender cries, and went on destroying every nest they could find, without paying any distinction to the most innocent of the feathered race: at last they came to a turtle dove's nest, which was on the top of a great high tree that hung over a deep river; George Graceless, always the most forward to undertake any dangerous or mischievous exploit, directly pulled off his coat and waistcoat, and climbed up the tree, but just as he got to the top, and was stretching out his wicked hand to take away the turtle dove's eggs, crack goes the limb, and down he fell into the river! oh save me, save me, I shall be drowned; oh, that I had attended to the good advice of Little King Pippin, cried he, and with these words, down he went to the bottom, and was never seen more. The rest of his companions began now to see the folly and wickedness of neglecting their books for idle mischief, and heartily repented that they had not stayed at school instead of playing truant; but dreading to appear before their master, both on account of their own naughty behaviour, and the melancholy accident which had happened to George Graceless, they strolled about from one field to another, till it was quite dark, and then went and laid themselves under some bushes in an adjacent wood, where they fell asleep; but alas! their sleep was very short, for in less than an hour, they were awakened with such terrible howlings of wild beasts as was scarce ever heard, tigers, wolves, and lions, hunting for their prey, with eyes that glared like balls of fire, rushed by them every instant: in this dreadful situation, expecting every moment to be torn in pieces, Harry Harmless requested them all to betake themselves to prayer to God Almighty to guard and protect them from the terrible dangers which now surrounded them. But oh, shame to tell, not one of them, except Harry Harmless himself, could repeat, or indeed had ever learned a single prayer; upon which, Harry, justly concluding, that those naughty boys who had so totally neglected their duty to their Creator, could have no claim whatever to his protection, thought he should be in more safety alone than in such wicked company, therefore moved to a distance from them, and kneeled down to prayer by himself; and he had not left them but a few minutes before two monstrous lions came and devoured every one of them: after they had eaten these wicked boys, they went up to Harry Harmless, but instead of devouring him, as they had the others, they seemed as fond of him as a dam of her young, licked his face and hands with their tongues, and then lay down quietly upon the ground by his side: for God Almighty had heard his prayers, as he always will those of all good little boys and girls, and had converted the natural rage and fierceness of these dreadful beasts into the meekness and gentleness of lambs. When morning came, Harry