But your legs would develop terrific--
Yes, my importunate son,
You'd be a Marvellous Kid!

[Illustration: The Beginning of the Armadillos]

THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS

THIS, O Best Beloved, is another story of the High and Far-Off Times. In
the very middle of those times was a Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, and he
lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon, eating shelly snails and
things. And he had a friend, a Slow-Solid Tortoise, who lived on the
banks of the turbid Amazon, eating green lettuces and things. And so
_that_ was all right, Best Beloved. Do you see?

But also, and at the same time, in those High and Far-Off Times, there
was a Painted Jaguar, and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon
too; and he ate everything that he could catch. When he could not catch
deer or monkeys he would eat frogs and beetles; and when he could not
catch frogs and beetles he went to his Mother Jaguar, and she told him
how to eat hedgehogs and tortoises.

She said to him ever so many times, graciously waving her tail, 'My son,
when you find a Hedgehog you must drop him into the water and then he
will uncoil, and when you catch a Tortoise you must scoop him out of his
shell with your paw.' And so that was all right, Best Beloved.

One beautiful night on the banks of the turbid Amazon, Painted Jaguar
found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise sitting under the
trunk of a fallen tree. They could not run away, and so Stickly-Prickly
curled himself up into a ball, because he was a Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid
Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell as far as they would
go, because he was a Tortoise; and so _that_ was all right, Best
Beloved. Do you see?

'Now attend to me,' said Painted Jaguar, 'because this is very
important. My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him
into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am
to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now which of you is Hedgehog
and which is Tortoise? because to save my spots, I can't tell.'

'Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?' said Stickly-Prickly
Hedgehog. 'Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a
Tortoise you must shell him out of the water with a scoop, and when you
paw a Hedgehog you must drop him on the shell.'

'Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?' said Slow-and-Solid
Tortoise. 'Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you water a
Hedgehog yo