--But they might have taken and sacked the city.
S.--The selfish gluttons!
* * * * *
SOLDIER.--Your presumption grows intolerable; I'll hold no further
parley with thee.
FOOL.--"Herculean gentleman, I dread thy drubs; pity the lifted whites
of both my eyes!"
S.--Then speak no more of the things you do but imperfectly
understand.
F.--Such censorship would doom all tongues to silence. But show me
wherein my knowledge is deficient.
S.--What is an _abattis_?
F.--Rubbish placed in front of a fort, to keep the rubbish outside
from getting at the rubbish inside.
S.--Egad! I'll part thy hair!
DIVERS TALES.
THE GRATEFUL BEAR.
I hope all my little readers have heard the story of Mr. Androcles and
the lion; so I will relate it as nearly as I can remember it, with the
caution that Androcles must not be confounded with the lion. If I had
a picture representing Androcles with a silk hat, and the lion with a
knot in his tail, the two might readily be distinguished; but the
artist says he won't make any such picture, and we must try to get on
without.
One day Androcles was gathering truffles in a forest, when he found a
lion's den; and, walking into it, he lay down and slept. It was a
custom, in his time, to sleep in lions' dens when practicable.
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