he King would not have at any price.
When he heard of this wise Parrot, thought he, "Here's my Judge; he will
want no wages but sugar and chickweed, and he will take no bribes."

So the Parrot was made Judge, and sat on a big throne, with a white wig
and a red robe lined with ermine.

Next day, the Parrot was in Court, and a case came up for judgment. It
was a murder case, and when the evidence had been heard, the pleader on
the murderer's side finished up his speech by saying, "And now, my Lord,
you must admit that my client is innocent."

Said the Parrot, "Of course."

[Illustration]

Everybody thought this rather odd, because the other side had not yet
been heard; and, besides, the man was caught in the act. However, they
held their tongues and waited.

Then the prosecutor got up, and made a long speech, at the end of which
he said, "It is no longer possible to doubt that the prisoner at the bar
is guilty. Two witnesses saw him do the deed, and half-a-dozen caught
him just as he was pulling the knife out of the body. I therefore call
upon you, my Lord, to pass sentence of death."

Said the Parrot, "Certainly."

At this the King pricked up his ears. The man could not be innocent of
course, and yet certainly guilty, at the same time. So he turned to the
Judge and said--

"If you go against evidence so clear, Judge, I shall begin to suspect
that you killed the man yourself."

Said the Parrot, "Certainly."

You may imagine the hubbub that arose in Court when the Judge said this!
Everybody saw that the King had made a mistake in his Judge, and even
the King himself began to suspect that something was wrong. So he said,
rather angrily, to the Parrot--

"Then it is your head ought to be chopped off."

Said the Parrot, "Of course."

"Chop off his head, then," cried the King; and they
took away the Parrot and chopped off his head
without delay; and all the while he was
being dragged along, he called out,
"Certainly," "Certainly,"
"Certainly."

[Illustration]

The Frog and the Snake

A FROG and a Snake had a quarrel as to which could give the more deadly
bite. They agreed to try it on the next opportunity.

A Man came to bathe in the pond where these two creatures lived. The
Snake bit him under the water, while the Frog floated on the top.
"Something has bitten me!" the Man called out to his friends.

"What is it?" they asked.

The