G@he Pare and the P\edgehog.

T was a beautiful morning, about harvest time, the buckwheat was in
flower, the sun shining in the heavens, and the morning breeze
waving the golden corn-fields, while the lark sang blithely in the
clear, blue sky, and the bees were buzzing about the flowers. The
villagers seemed all alive; many of them were dressed in their best
clothes, hastening to the fair.

It was a lovely day, and all nature seemed happy, even to a
little hedgehog, who stood at his own door. He had his arms
folded, and was singing as merrily as little hedgehogs can do on a
pleasant morning. While he thus stood amusing himself, his little wife was
washing and dressing the children, and he thought he might as well go and see
how the field of turnips was getting on; for, as he and his family fed upon
them, they appeared like his own property. No sooner said than done. He
shut the house door after him and started off.

He had not gone farther than the little hedge bordering the turnip field
when he met a hare, who was on his way to inspect the cabbages, which he also
considered belonged to him. When the hedgehog saw the hare he wished him
“Good morning!” very pleasantly.

But the hare, who was a grand gentteman in his way, and not very good-
tempered, took no notice of the hedgehog’s greeting, but said in a most imper-
tinent manner: “How is it that you are running about the fields so early this
morning?”

“Tam taking a walk,” said the hedgehog.

“Taking a walk,” cried the hare, with a laugh; “I don’t think your legs are
much suited for walking.”

This answer made the hedgehog very angry. He could bear anything but
a reference to his bandy legs, so he said: “ You consider your legs are better
than mine, I suppose?”

‘Well, I rather think they are,” replied the hare.

‘I should like to prove it,” said the hedgehog. “I will wager anything
that if we were to run a race I should beat.”

“That is a capital joke,” cried the hare, ‘to think you could beat me with
your bandy legs. However, if you wish it, I have no objection to try. What
will you bet?”

‘A golden louis d’or and a bottle of wine.”

“Agreed,” said the hare: “and we may as well begin at once.”