m of
the great Ching-Wang!

And her mother, the fair Su-See,
She looked at the little Fing-Wee--
There were mothers in China some thousands of years before you
were born, trust me!
She looked at the children two,
And down in the dusk and the dew,
With a tender mist in her eyes she kissed the Princess Loo-lee Loo!

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE CURIOUS CASE OF AH-TOP

(_A Chinese Legend_)

[Illustration]

The slant-eyed maidens, when they spied
The cue of Ah-Top, gaily cried,
"It is some mandarin!"
The street-boys followed in a crowd;
No wonder that Ah-Top was proud
And wore a conscious grin!

But one day Ah-Top's heart grew sad.
"My fate," he said, "is quite too bad!
My cue will hang behind me.
While others may its beauty know,
To me there's naught its grace to show,
And nothing to remind me."

[Illustration]

At length he hit upon a plan,
Exclaiming, "I'm a clever man!
I know what I will do:
I'll simply wheel myself around,
And then the pigtail will be found
Where I can see it, too."

He spun himself upon his toes,
He almost fell upon his nose,
He grew red in the face.
But when Ah-Top could whirl no more,
He found the pigtail as before,
Resolved to keep its place.

"A'ha!" he cried, "I turned too slow.
Next time, you see, I'll faster go.
Besides, I stopped too soon.
Now for a good one! Ah, but stay--
I'll turn myself the other way!"
He looked like a balloon!

So fast he whirled, his cue flew out
And carried Ah-Top round about.
An awful moment came--
The helpless spinner could not stop!
The poor man had become a top!
This gave the toy its name.

[Illustration: How it turned out.]

THE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL

_A Hindu Tale_

The Jackal stood looking across the river where the crabs lay in the sun
on the sand.

"Oh," said the Jackal, "if I could only swim, how good those crabs would
be! I wish I had a boat or a canoe!"

Just then the Camel came out of the woods. "Now," said the Jackal, "if I
can only get the Camel to take me across the river! I can ride high up
on his hump, and it will be just as good as a boat."

"Good morning, friend," said the Jackal to the Camel. "Are you hungry? I
know a place where the sugar can