A Modern Parable.

Manawatu Herald, 23 March 1899, Page 3

A Modern Parable.

In the course of the proceedings, in the Queen's Bench Division, Justice Darling asked plaintiSf if he had ever •' read the history of the race won by the hedgehog and his wife ?" Plainti? did not quite understand, except that he had not read it. Subsequently in private bis lordship told the story as follows: The hedgehog challenged the hare to a race on condition that he should select the course. The hare laughed at conditions, and consented. So the hedgehog selected a nice long hedge, and stipulated that the hare should run along one side of it and he along the other six times there and back. At each end of the hedge the first to arrive was to put his head round the corner and say " I am here, Mr Hedgehog," or "I am here, Mr Baft." as the case might be. Now,

the hedgehog's wife was so much like himself that no hare-brained sprinter could tell the difference. So the wily hedgehog posted himself at one end of the hedge and his wife at the other. And however fast ran the hare, Mr or Mrs Hedgehog's head was always first round the corner. The hare fell down exhausted, and -iost. This in a new method of hedging on a race.