rabbits talking, laughing and shouting his name. He stopped short, sniffed the air and crept nearer and nearer. When he was very near the merry-making rabbits, he learned that they were making sport of him, and that Cock-Eye, Long-Ear, Short-Tail was laughing at him more than anyone else.

"Eh, Brother! Just wait and I'll gobble you up," said the Gray Wolf to himself, as he tried to spy out the boastful, bold rabbit.

Meanwhile, the rabbits, aware of nothing, made merry and merrier. Finally, the boaster climbed up on the stump of a tree, sat on his hind legs, and said,

"Hear, all ye cowards! Listen and look at me! Now I will show you some tricks. I ... I ... I...."

The words were frozen on his lips, for just then he saw the wolf looking, looking straight at him. The other rabbits did not see the wolf, but Cock-Eye did and he didn't dare to breathe.

Then happened the most extraordinary thing. Through sheer fear, the Boaster jumped up like a rubber ball, fell on the wide forehead of the wolf, rolled over his back, turned a somersault in the air, landed on his feet, and ran as if he were trying to run out of his skin.

Long, long did the unfortunate rabbit run. It seemed to him the wolf was right behind him and that in another moment he would feel the wolf's fangs. The poor limp rabbit ran on until he had no strength left and finally he closed his eyes and fell under a bush, dead with weariness.

Meanwhile, the wolf was running in another direction. When the rabbit fell on his forehead, the wolf thought he had been hit by a gun shot and he ran away as fast as he could, saying to himself, "There are plenty of other rabbits in the forest. This one seems quite crazy anyway and not fit to eat."

Now for a long time the other rabbits did not realize what had happened. Some ran into the bushes, some hid behind stumps, others crawled into their holes. After a while they grew tired of hiding and little by little, they crept out and looked around.

Then said one, "Our rabbit certainly scared that wolf. If it had not been for him, few of us would have escaped alive. But where is he, our Fearless One?"

And everyone began looking for him. They looked everywhere, but Cock-Eye was nowhere to be found. They began to think the Gray Wolf had eaten him up, when they discovered him, lying in a hole under a bush, almost dead from fear.

"Good for you, Cock-Eye," shouted the rabbits all in one voice. "You certainly frightened that wolf very cleverly. We thought you were boasting all the time, when you were telling us you were not afraid of anything or anybody."

At once the bold rabbit came to life. He crept out of the hole, shook himself, squinted his eyes, and said:

"And what did you think, you cowards?"

And from that day, the bold rabbit was convinced that he was really not afraid of anyone.

THE STORY OF LITTLE CACINELLA

I

HOW and where little Cacinella was born, no one knows. It happened one sunny day in spring. Little Cacinella looked around and said, "Very nice." She stretched her tiny wings, rubbed one little thin leg against the other, looked around again and said:

"How very, very nice! How warm the sun! How blue the sky! How green the grass! How very, very nice! and all this is mine!"

Rubbing one little leg against the other once more, little Cacinella began to fly. She flew and looked around and rejoiced. Beneath her, the grass was green, and hidden in its bosom, was a crimson flower.

"Little Cacinella, come to me," called the flower.

Cacinella came down to the ground, climbed into the flower and sipped its sweet nectar.

"How kind you are, little flower," said Cacinella, rubbing her mouth with one of her little thin legs.

"Yes, I may be kind, but I cannot walk," complained the flower.

"Still, the world is lovely," said little Cacinella, "and it is all mine, too."

She had hardly finished, when a hairy drone flew down upon the flower with a loud buzz.

"Buzz! Buzz! Who dares to get into my flower? Buzz! Buzz! Who dares to sip my sweet nectar? Buzz! Buzz! Oh, you nasty little Cacinella, get away from here! Buzz! Buzz! Get away or I'll sting you to death."

"I say, what does this mean?" piped little Cacinella. "Everything is mine."

"Buzz! Buzz! No, it's mine."

Little Cacinella was barely able to escape from the angry drone. She crept into the grass, licked her thin little legs, sticky with flower nectar, and said angrily:

"How rude that drone was! It's quite amazing! He even tried to sting me to death! Why, aren't they all mine, the sun and the grass and the flower!"

"No, pardon me. They are all mine," said a fuzzy Caterpillar, crawling along a blade of grass. Little Cacinella realized that a caterpillar cannot fly, so she grew bold.

"Pardon me, Mr. Caterpillar. You are mistaken. I do not interfere with your crawling. Don't argue with me."

"Very well. Pray don't touch my grass. To tell you the truth, I don't like it. So many of you fly about here. You are all such light-minded creatures; while I, Caterpillar, am a serious person. To be frank, everything is mine. I crawl along a blade of grass and I eat it up. I get into a flower and I eat that up. Good day."

II

IN a few hours, little Cacinella learned many things. She learned that besides the sun, the blue sky and the green grass, there are angry drones, serious caterpillars, thorns on flowers—all of which made one sad. Little Cacinella had thought that everything belonged to her and was especially created for her. Now it hurt her to discover that others thought that everything had been made especially for them. Something was wrong.

Little Cacinella flew further and she came to a pool.

"Now, this is surely mine," she piped gaily. "My water. I am so happy. Here are also grass and flowers."

Then she met other cacinellas.

"Hello, sister," they called.

"Hello, dears. I'm so glad I met you. It was getting very lonely flying about alone. What are you doing here?"

"We are playing, sister. Come along with us. We are very happy. When were you born?"

"Just to-day. A drone almost stung me to death and I also met a caterpillar. I thought everything belonged to me. They said everything was theirs."

The little cacinellas calmed their guest and invited her to play with them. Then they swarmed in a thick cloud over the pool,