ng into the garden, very
happy and care-free,--BUT looking all around. He saw the huge pile of
figs under the big fig tree.

"H-m," he thought, "that looks singularly like my friend, the
Alligator. I'll investigate a bit."

He stood quite still and began to talk to himself,--it was a little way
he had. He said,--

"The little figs I like best are the fat, ripe, juicy ones that drop
off when the breeze blows; and then the wind blows them about on the
ground, this way and that; the great heap of figs over there is so
still that I think they must be all bad figs."

The old Alligator, underneath his fig pile, thought,--

"Bother the suspicious little Jackal, I shall have to make these figs
roll about, so that he will think the wind moves them." And
straightway he humped himself up and moved, and sent the little figs
flying,--and his back showed through.

The little Jackal did not wait for a second look. He ran out of the
garden like the wind. But as he ran he called back,--

"Thank you, again, Mr. Alligator; very sweet of you to show me where
you are; I can't stay to thank you as I should like: good-by!"

At this the old Alligator was beside himself with rage. He vowed that
he would have the little Jackal for supper this time, come what might.
So he crept and crawled over the ground till he came to the little
Jackal's house. Then he crept and crawled inside, and hid himself
there in the house, to wait till the little Jackal should come home.

By and by the little Jackal came dancing home, happy and
care-free,--BUT looking all around. Presently, as he came along, he
saw that the ground was all scratched up as if something very heavy had
been dragged over it. The little Jackal stopped and looked.

"What's this? what's this?" he said.

Then he saw that the door of his house was crushed at the sides and
broken, as if something very big had gone through it.

"What's this? What's this?" the little Jackal said. "I think I'll
investigate a little!"

So he stood quite still and began to talk to himself (you remember, it
was a little way he had), but loudly. He said,--

"How strange that my little House doesn't speak to me! Why don't you
speak to me, little House? You always speak to me, if everything is
all right, when I come home. I wonder if anything is wrong with my
little House?"

The old Alligator thought to himself that he must certainly pretend to
be the little House, or the little Jackal wo