m wisdom's holy page;
But still 'tis true, whate'er he may know,
A dirty Crow is a dirty Crow."

[Illustration]

The Grateful Goat

ONCE upon a time a Butcher bought a Goat; but as he was going to kill
the Goat, and make him into meat for the table, the Goat opened his
mouth, and said--

"If you kill me, Butcher, you will be a few shillings the richer; but if
you spare my life, I will repay you for your kindness."

This Butcher had killed many goats in his day, but he never before heard
one of them talk. Goats can talk to each other, as you must have heard;
but most of them do not learn English. So the Butcher thought there must
be something special about this Goat, and did not kill him.

The Goat felt very grateful that his life had been spared for a few more
happy summers; and when he found himself free, the first thing he did
was to go into the forest to see if he could find some means of repaying
the Butcher's kind deed.

As he trotted along under the trees, stopping now and then to crop some
tender shoot that came within reach, he met a Jackal.

"I am glad to see you, Goatee," said the Jackal; "and now I'm going to
eat you."

"Don't be such a fool," said the Goat. "Can't you see I am nothing but
skin and bones? Wait till I get fat. That's why I am here, just to get
fat; and when I'm nice and fat, you may eat me and welcome."

The Goat was very skinny, in truth, and he pulled in his breath to make
himself look more skinny. So the Jackal said--

"All right, look sharp, and be sure you look out for me on your way
back."

"I shan't forget, Jackal," said the Goat. "Ta ta!"

By-and-by he fell in with a Wolf.

"Ha!" said the Wolf, smacking his lips; "here's what I want. Get ready,
my Goat, for I am going to eat you."

"Oh, surely not," said the Goat; "a skinny old thing like me!" He drew
in his breath again, and looked very skinny indeed. "I have come here to
fatten myself, and when I'm fat, you shall eat me if you like."

"Well," said the Wolf, "you don't look like a prize Goat, I grant you.
Go along then, but look out for me when you come back."

"Oh, I shall look out for you!" said the Goat, and away he trotted.

By-and-by he came to a church. He went into the church, and there he saw
last Sunday's collection plate, full of gold coins. In that country, any
one would have been ashamed to put coppers into the plate, not because
they were rich, for they were not, but beca