graciously waving her
tail, 'what have you been doing that you shouldn't have done?'

'I tried to scoop something that said it wanted to be scooped out of its
shell with my paw, and my paw is full of per-ickles,' said Painted
Jaguar.

'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her
tail, 'by the prickles in your paddy-paw I see that that must have been
a Hedgehog. You should have dropped him into the water.'

'I did that to the other thing; and he said he was a Tortoise, and I
didn't believe him, and it was quite true, and he has dived under the
turbid Amazon, and he won't come up again, and I haven't anything at all
to eat, and I think we had better find lodgings somewhere else. They are
too clever on the turbid Amazon for poor me!'

'Son, son!' said his mother ever so many times, graciously waving her
tail, 'now attend to me and remember what I say. A Hedgehog curls
himself up into a ball and his prickles stick out every which way at
once. By this you may know the Hedgehog.'

'I don't like this old lady one little bit,' said Stickly-Prickly, under
the shadow of a large leaf. 'I wonder what else she knows?'

'A Tortoise can't curl himself up,' Mother Jaguar went on, ever so many
times, graciously waving her tail. 'He only draws his head and legs into
his shell. By this you may know the Tortoise.'

'I don't like this old lady at all--at all,' said Slow-and-Solid
Tortoise. 'Even Painted Jaguar can't forget those directions. It's a
great pity that you can't swim, Stickly-Prickly.'

'Don't talk to me,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'Just think how much better it
would be if you could curl up. This _is_ a mess! Listen to Painted
Jaguar.'

Painted Jaguar was sitting on the banks of the turbid Amazon sucking
prickles out of his paws and saying to himself--

'Can't curl, but can swim--
Slow-Solid, that's him!
Curls up, but can't swim--
Stickly-Prickly, that's him!'

'He'll never forget that this month of Sundays,' said Stickly-Prickly.
'Hold up my chin, Slow-and-Solid. I'm going to try to learn to swim. It
may be useful.'

'Excellent!' said Slow-and-Solid; and he held up Stickly-Prickly's chin,
while Stickly-Prickly kicked in the waters of the turbid Amazon.

'You'll make a fine swimmer yet,' said Slow-and-Solid. 'Now, if you can
unlace my back-plates a little, I'll see what I can do towards curling
up. It may be useful.'

Stickly-Prickly helped to unlace