XC

A REFUGEE SQUIRREL

A squirrel, whose bad luck it was to be captured, was lodged for safe keeping in a trap used for taking rats alive. Here he remained for several weeks, till at length, panting for liberty, he managed to make his escape through a window, and went back once more to his native fields.

The family in which he had been pet, were not a little vexed at the loss of their little favorite, and the servant was ordered in the evening of the same day to remove the trap, that they might no longer be reminded of their loss. When he went to do this, he found to his surprise that the squirrel, all wet and ruffled by the storm, had come back, and again taken up his lodgings in the corner of the trap.

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XCI

ESCAPE OF JENGIS KAHN

The Mogul and Kalmuc Tartars give to the white owl credit for preserving Jengis Khan, the founder of their empire; and they pay it, on that account, almost divine honors. The prince, with a small army, happened to be surprised and put to flight by his enemies. Forced to seek concealment in a coppice, a white owl settled on the bush under which he was hidden. At the sight of this bird, the prince's pursuers never thought of searching the spot, thinking it impossible that such a bird would perch where any human being was concealed. Jengis escaped, and ever after his countrymen held the white owl sacred, and every one wore a plume of its feathers on his head. The Kalmucs continue the custom to this day, at all their great festivals; and some tribes have an idol in the form of an owl, to which they fasten the real legs of this bird.

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XCII

A SHREWD GUESSER

A French officer, more remarkable for his birth and spirit than his wealth, had served the Venetian republic for some years with great valor and fidelity, but had not met with that preferment which he deserved.

One day he waited on a n.o.bleman whom he had often solicited in vain, but on whose friendship he had still some reliance. The reception he met with was cool and mortifying; the n.o.bleman turned his back upon the veteran, and left him to find his way to the street through a suite of apartments magnificently furnished.

He pa.s.sed them lost in thought, till, casting his eyes on a most beautiful sideboard, where a valuable collection of Venetian gla.s.s, polished and formed in the highest degree of perfection, stood on a damask cloth as a preparation for a splendid entertainment, he took hold of a corner of the linen, and turning to a faithful mastiff which always went with him, said to the animal, "Here, my poor old friend, you see how these haughty tyrants indulge themselves, and yet how we are treated!" The poor dog looked his master in the face, and gave tokens that he understood him. The master walked on, but the mastiff slackened his pace, and laying hold of the damask cloth with his teeth, gave one hearty pull, and thus brought all the gla.s.s on the sideboard in shivers to the ground, thus robbing the unkind n.o.bleman of his favorite exhibition of splendor.

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XCIII

ARE BEASTS MERE MACHINES?

A gentleman one day talking with a friend said that beasts were mere machines, and had no sort of reason to direct them; and that when they cried or made a noise, it was only one of the wheels of the clock or machine that made it.

The friend, who was of a different opinion replied, "I have now in my kitchen two dogs who take turns regularly every other morning to get into the wheel. One of them, not liking his employment, hid himself on the day that he should work, so that his companion was forced to mount the wheel in his stead, but crying and wagging his tail, he made sign for those about him to follow him. He at once led them to a garret, where he found the idle dog, drove him out and killed him at once."

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XCIV

AN a.s.s CAST AWAY

An a.s.s, belonging to a captain in the Royal Navy, then at Malta, was shipped on board a frigate, bound from Gibraltar for that island. The vessel struck on some sands off the Point de Gat, and the a.s.s was thrown overboard, in the hope that it might possibly be able to swim to the land. Of this, however, there did not seem to be much chance, for the sea was running so high, that a boat which left the ship was lost. A few days later, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened one morning the guard were surprised by Valiant, as the a.s.s was called, presenting himself there for admittance. On entering, he went at once to the stable of a merchant, where he had formerly lived. The poor animal had not only swum safely to sh.o.r.e, but without guide, compa.s.s, or travelling map, had found his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two hundred miles, through a mountainous and intricate country, crossed by streams, which he had never travelled over before, and in so short a period, that he could not have made one false turn.

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XCV

QUARRELSOME APES

The town of Bindrabund in India is in high regard with the pious Hindoos, who resort to it from the most remote parts of the empire. The town is surrounded by groves of trees, which are the homes of numberless apes, whose fondness for mischief is increased by the religious respect paid to them in honor of a divinity of the Hindoo mythology, who is represented as having the body of an ape. Because of this superst.i.tion, such numbers of these animals are supported by the free-will offerings of pilgrims, that no one dares to resist or ill-treat them. Hence, access to the town is often difficult; for should one of the apes take a dislike to any unlucky traveller, he is sure to be a.s.sailed by the whole community, who follow him with all the missile weapons they can collect, such as pieces of bamboo, stones, and dirt, making at the same time a most hideous howling. Of the danger attending a meeting with enemies of this description, the following is a melancholy instance. Two young cavalry officers, belonging to the Bengal army, having occasion to pa.s.s through the town, were attacked by a body of apes, at whom one of the gentlemen had foolishly fired. The alarm instantly drew the whole body, with the fakeers, out of the place, with so much fury that the officers, though they were mounted upon elephants, were compelled to seek safety in flight; and in trying to pa.s.s the Jumna, they both of them were drowned.

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XCVI

A FALSE ALARM

Some years ago, a soldier, who was doing duty at the castle of Cape Town, kept a tame baboon for his amus.e.m.e.nt. One evening it broke its chains unknown to him, and in the night it climbed up into the belfry, and began to play with and ring the bell.

Instantly the whole place was in an uproar; some great danger was feared. Many thought that the castle was on fire; others, that an enemy had entered the bay, and the soldiers actually began to turn out, when it was discovered that the mischievous baboon had caused the disturbance.

On the following morning a court-martial was held, when Cape justice decided that whereas the baboon had unnecessarily put the castle into alarm, its master should receive fifty lashes. The soldier, however, found someway to evade the punishment.

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XCVII

A CHILD SAVED