THE HEDGEHOG 17

banks of the pond, naturally thought that
they would form a more comfortable seat
than the bare ground. Accordingly, with-
out more to-do she plumped herself down
upon the leaves, but had hardly done so
when she sprang up again with a shriek
which rang through the air with a shrill echo
which caused all the frogs to duck their
heads under water in a moment, and startled
little Hurly-Burly out of his senses. The
cause of the good woman’s alarm, however,
was soon made clear. She had been so
unlucky as to sit down upon a hedgehog,
which is a thing I should never advise any-
body to do if another seat should be at
hand. The hedgehog had been comfortably
curled up in the dry leaves, and it is a mercy
that he was not smashed by the weight of
the nurse’s body. But he was a very large
hedgehog, and probably a very tough one
also; and his bristles were so long and so
sharp, that the first touch of these had been
enough to warn the good woman before she
had settled herself down, in which case the
consequences might have been more serious.
Fortunately for all parties, neither she nor
the hedgehog was much hurt, but the latter
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