14 THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE HEMPSEED.

but plain T'urnspit. In those times dogs were used to turn
the roasting-spit by means of a large hollow wheel in which
they were placed. That very simple machine called a jack,
now everywhere seen for turning the spit, did not exist
then. You may judge, then, whether the poor dog we are
speaking of was not well named, and whether he did not
deserve some little kindness.

The kindness which Rol the Tyrolese showed to Turn-
spit was this: When the dog had been hard at work for
five or six hours, turning the spit, and was out of breath
with fatigue, and dying with hunger and thirst, Rol used to
take a good piece of the meat which the poor thing had
itself helped to roast. This he would place in the wheel,
from which he took good care first to remove the dog: then,
he made the wheel go round, and Turnspit, famished and
miserable as he was, saw the nice piece of meat passing
by his very nose again and again without being able to

WORE uz, reach it. Having thus tortured

MTT LI ies, the unhappy Turnspit all the
evening, Rol would throw him a
i\| sorry crust of hard bread, and leave
*. the delicious piece of meat hanging
; in the wheel.

Next came the two Canary birds.
One was called Emerald, because
|| it was green; and the other Topaz,
i\|| because its feathers were yellow.

= How theydid chirrup! what pretty
airs they sang, so long as a ray of
the sun penetrated into their cages, and sported with the
water in their crystal bowls. The delight of the prince
was to pour plenty of seed into their trough; and Rol’s
enjoyment was to empty out the seed, when the prince’s
back was turned, and supply its place with sand. It is
frightful to think of the misery to which the poor birds
were brought!