Imitate
dragging something along the ground.) When he got home his Mammy
looked at the thing on the end of the string, and she said,--

"My laws a-massy! Epaminondas, what you got on the end of that string?"

"Bread, Mammy," said Epaminondas; "Auntie gave it to me."

"Bread!!!" said his Mammy. "O Epaminondas, Epaminondas, you ain't got
the sense you was born with; you never did have the sense you was born
with; you never will have the sense you was born with! Now I ain't
gwine tell you any more ways to bring truck home. And don't you go see
your Auntie, neither. I'll go see her my own self. But I'll just tell
you one thing, Epaminondas! You see these here six mince pies I done
make? You see how I done set 'em on the doorstep to cool? Well, now,
you hear me, Epaminondas, YOU BE CAREFUL HOW YOU STEP ON THOSE PIES!"

"Yes, Mammy," said Epaminondas.

Then Epaminondas' Mammy put on her bonnet and her shawl and took a
basket in her hand and went away to see Auntie. The six mince pies sat
cooling in a row on the doorstep.

And then,--and then,--Epaminondas WAS careful how he stepped on those
pies!

He stepped (imitate)--right--in--the--middle--of--every--one.
. . . . . . . .
And, do you know, children, nobody knows what happened next! The
person who told me the story didn't know; nobody knows. But you can
guess.

THE BOY WHO CRIED "WOLF!"

There was once a shepherd-boy who kept his flock at a little distance
from the village. Once he thought he would play a trick on the
villagers and have some fun at their expense. So he ran toward the
village crying out, with all his might,--

"Wolf! Wolf! Come and help! The wolves are at my lambs!"

The kind villagers left their work and ran to the field to help him.
But when they got there the boy laughed at them for their pains; there
was no wolf there.

Still another day the boy tried the same trick, and the villagers came
running to help and got laughed at again. Then one day a wolf did break
into the fold and began killing the lambs. In great fright, the boy
ran for help. "Wolf! Wolf!" he screamed. "There is a wolf in the
flock! Help!"

The villagers heard him, but they thought it was another mean trick; no
one paid the least attention, or went near him. And the shepherd-boy
lost all his sheep.

That is the kind of thing that happens to people who lie: even when
they tell the truth no one believes them.

THE FROG KING

Did you