re; and if they caught
me napping, they would sting me to death before you count five; so I
have to keep one eye open all night, and I am almost worn into holes.'

"'You don't say so,' said the dog; 'well, I don't envy you your
treasure, sir.'

"When the night came, the griffin, who was a very cute fellow, and saw
that the dog was so perfectly honest that he was to be entirely trusted,
laid down to sleep, and was soon snoring like twenty fat aldermen rolled
into one, and Beppo, shaking himself almost out of his skin, so as to be
quite awake, took watch over the treasure. His mouth watered till it
made quite a pond at his feet, at the delightful bones, and he could not
help smelling at them now and then; but the honest fellow said to
himself, 'A bargain's a bargain, and since I have promised to serve the
griffin, and shaken paws on it, I must serve him as an honest dog ought
to serve.'"

"What a good dog!" said Willie; "I like him."

"In the very middle of the night, a great snake came creeping in by the
side of the cave, but the dog spied him, and set up such a barking that
you would have thought a whole pack of the largest fire-crackers was
going off all at once. The griffin woke up with a start, and the snake
crept away with all his might and main. Then the griffin was very much
pleased, and he gave the dog one of the delicious bones to eat; and
every night the dog watched the treasure, and did it so well, that not a
single snake would have dared to poke its nose (if it had one) into the
cave, and the griffin grew so fat, with the excellent rest he enjoyed,
that he could hardly see out of his eyes, and his three double chins
shook like a bowl of jelly.

"When we try to do our duty faithfully we are more comfortable than we
expect, even if the duty is disagreeable. It happened so with our friend
Beppo. The griffin regularly gave him an elegant bone for supper, which
did not need mustard to make it relishing, and pleased Beppo more than
a houseful of sugar-candy; and, pleased with his honesty, made himself
as agreeable as it was possible for a savage old griffin to do. Still
the poor dog was very anxious to return to the world, for, having
nothing to do all day but to doze on the ground, he dreamed all the time
of his beautiful cousin the cat; and, in fancy, he gave the rascal
Reynard as hearty a worrying as a fox ever had from a dog's paws. But,
alas! when he awoke panting, it was nothing but a dream.

"One nigh