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Arrived there, he summoned them all, and said, Come, come! you shall now behold in me the finest builder in the world."

With that he seized a great cudgel, and struck the trees as if he were gone mad; right and left, crooked and straight, struck he, so that the animals were obliged to get out of his way as nimbly as they could. But all the trees stood stock still, they did not even move; and the beasts laughed at him.

The ape was vexed at their merriment, and made ugly faces, but thought he to himself, "Let them laugh; I am wiser than they are, and when once I am master, then they shall feel."

The second week he went to learn the management of land, for it was necessary that food should be provided for the animals.

Again he looked down from his apple-tree, and saw how Adam took his spade, pressed it into the earth with his hand and foot, and turned over the soil; after that, he saw him take a bag, which he tied before him, and out of this scatter various kinds of grain into the newly-dug soil, in order that a future harvest might spring forth.

Pshaw!" thought the ape, "there is little art in that; we shall soon manage that business."

So down he came, and as he was determined to be quite right, this time, he stole Adam's spade and corn sack, and ran back to the animals.

Come, come,' said he to them; "now I'll show you something. Now you shall see what a capital farmer I am.” With that he seized the spade, struck it against the

earth, and pressed it down with all his might; but, instead of putting the iron to the ground, he held it upside down, and, with pressing upon it, cut his hands so dreadfully, that he cried out with pain, and threw the spade from him.

Fortunately, the dog, who was near at hand, licked the wound, so that the pain soon abated.

Then said the ape, "It is of no consequence; digging up the earth is a mere secondary thing, the principal matter is the sowing,"

With that he took the corn-bag, and because there was not much left in it, he filled it with sand and little pebbles, tied it round his body, and went, with a consequential air and rapid strides, up and down, to and fro, and threw the sand about on all sides, and even into the faces of the animals.

When the animals had wiped their eyes, they said that this very knowing farmer of theirs had evidently flung into their eyes nothing but sand, out of which, as long as they lived, they would never get any food; therefore, they shook their heads and turned their backs upon him.

The ape determined, in the third week, to make himself acquainted with cookery, because, as it was now beginning to get cold, he fancied if he could only prepare some nice warm soup for the animals, they would never do without him again. So he watched how Adam, after he had collected dry wood, fetched a burning brand out of his house, and kindled it; then how Eve set an iron pot of water over the fire, sliced cabbage and wholesome herbs into it, and that in an hour's time the soup was ready.

"Oho!" said the ape, "there is no witchcraft in that;"

leapt down from the tree, snatched a burning brand out of the fire, and before Adam could start up to get it from him, had sprung over the hills, and was off.

A good appetite to you!" cried he to the animals, while he was yet a long way off, "to-day you shall have something to eat that will make you lick your paws. Here, you dog, fetch me some dry wood, then you will see something!"

The dog collected the wood in a twinkling; the ape stuck in the burning brand, and the flame flickered and flashed merrily up into the air. Before long, however, the fire went out. 66 We'll soon remedy that," said the ape, and blew into the ashes with full cheeks, so that the sparks flew into his own and the other animals' hair, and burned them.

"There's no great harm done," cried the ape; there's no gladness without sadness,' as the proverb says; only have patience, 'all's well that ends well.'

With that he took a great dock leaf, hung it by two sticks over the fire, and filled it with water which he fetched in the hollow of his hand from the nearest brook. He then took nettles and all sorts of weeds and threw them into the water.

"That will be delicious!" said he to the dog, whose mouth began to water, in expectation of a treat. But he had scarcely spoken the word, when the dock leaf shrivelled up, the future soup fell into the fire, which it extinguished, and there was an end of all his fine cookery.

With that the animals began to grumble, especially the oxen, who would not have anything more to do with the wisdom of the ape.

The ape, however, thus addressed them, "Are you not ashamed of yourselves, you animals, to lose heart immediately? if we cannot learn, our children must! but, for that purpose, they must be well managed and well educated. I will therefore now, as the most important of all things, go and learn from man the right mode of educating children.

But the oxen would not entertain the idea at all, and grumbled more than ever; the horse and the dog, on the contrary, who had more natural tact in learning, thought the proposal not so bad, and even persuaded the other animals to consent. In the fourth week, therefore, the ape again sat up in the apple tree.

Eve's little children were screaming and crying so loudly, that it was impossible to hear one's self speak. With that, the mother came out, took the baby, wrapped it in a warm sheet, laid it in a round basket, which she rocked with her foot, and in a very short time the little thing was quite still and went to sleep. As for the big children, she kissed them when they were good, and whipped them when they were naughty.

Scarcely had the ape seen all this, when he said, “I have now a thorough knowledge of the education of children; for this, however, such a sheet as Eve uses is very neces. sary."

At that very time, it happened that Eve, who had been washing, had hung her clothes out to dry, near the appletree, and a sheet, such as she had used, was amongst them; the ape, therefore, snatched it up secretly, tied it like a flag on a long stick, and marched back triumphantly.

"Now bring me," said he to the animals, "all your children, that I may give them an hour's instruction."

Without any loss of time, the animals assembled their young ones: foals, lambs, kids, puppies, and kittens, and many other young creatures, the one prettier than another, The calves bleated, the foals winnied, the lambs baaed, the kids maaed, the puppies whined, the kittens mewed, but beyond all the rest, did the little sucking-pigs squeal.

I'll soon make an end of that squealing," said the ape, and took, all at once, the six little sucking-pigs that cried the loudest, laid them in the sheet, bundled them up as closely as a bundle of clothes going to the wash, and laid them among the leaves upon a wavering branch. He next sprang up the tree, and with one foot shook the branch backwards and forwards. But crash! down came to the ground all the six little pigs in their bundle, squelch down! and lay as still as mice.

"You'll see," said the ape, "by and by I shall have it all right; but now for my master-piece with your elder children; I shall win your respect in this part of the business."

All the young animals were ordered to stand round him in a circle. For some time he contemplated them with a grave and learned countenance, after which he gave one or two of them a most affectionate kiss with his hairy

snout.

"But now comes," said he, "the pith of the whole matter;" and with these words he stretched out his huge yardlong arms to their full length, and boxed the ears of all the young things as hard as he could, so that they screeched