near him."

I was interrupted by some animal near dashing itself passionately
against the bars of its cage, and, turning round, I beheld a very savage
rat, which bore the name of the German Hamster. His head was thick,
blunt, and garnished with plenty of whiskers; he had big eyes, and
large, open, rounded ears. His back and head were of a reddish-brown
colour, his cheeks red, his feet white, and he had three odd white spots
on each side of his chest. But the funniest thing which I noticed about
him, (I was always an observant rat,) was that he had a claw on his
forefeet in addition to four toes, which I had never before seen in the
tribes of Mus.

"'Tis easy to talk of comfort!" he exclaimed angrily, "when a rat has
freedom and everything else that he cares for! But here-- why I have not
even the comfort of going to sleep after the fashion of my country!"

"Not going to sleep!" I repeated in some surprise, thinking to myself
that so peevish a creature must certainly be best in his sleep.

"No; who can sleep on bare boards, or a poor sprinkling of straw!" he
exclaimed, striking contemptuously the floor of his cage. "I who used to
burrow deep in the earth, and enjoy a long nap all during the winter,
shut up in my snug little home, I know what comfort is! There is nothing
like lying some feet under the earth, as quiet as if one were dead, and
know that there is a good magazine collected of grain, beans, and pease,
to feast on when one awakes in the spring."

"But at any rate here you are well fed," I suggested.

The words, however kindly intended, had only the effect of increasing
the Hamster's passion to a shocking extent. To my amazement and horror
he blew out his cheeks till the size of his head and neck exceeded that
of his body. He raised himself on his hind legs, and but for the bars of
his cage I believe that he would really have flown at me.

"Well fed!" he exclaimed, as soon as he could speak; "I should like to
know what you call being well fed! Since I have come to this hateful
country, not once have I had an opportunity of filling my cheeks with
grain. Man, stingy man, thinks it enough to give me a wretched pittance
from day to day,-- to me who have had a hundred pounds of corn packed up
in my own deep hole,-- to me whose delight it was to carry three ounces
weight of it at once in these bags with which Nature has provided my
face!"

"Most curious and convenient bags they are," said I, willing to appeas