Daddy's Evening Fairy Tale

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 242, 21 June 1928, Page 3

Daddy's Evening Fairy Tale

MARY GRAHAM BONNER

A TAIL TALE t

"Of course,” said the Azara dog in the zoo, “one should have one of the features of the animal it is supposed to be.” “What do you mean by features?” asked the Fox. “You mean that at least a pig should have a pig’s snout, and a cat a cat’s eyes, and so forth.” “Yes,” nodded the Azara dog, “that is what I mean.” 5 “Dear me,” laughed the Fox, “I was just thinking if we didn’t look like ourselves how very confusing it would be. “Suppose a parrot should look like me and suppose I should look like a parrot. “I’d be angry, I can tell you, if any creature came up to me and said: “ ‘There, Pretty Polly, Polly want a cracker?’ I’d be very, very angry indeed. “Neither would I like to have anyone come up to me and say: “ ‘Grunt, little pig, grunt.’ Nor would I like to have anyone say: “ ‘Sing, little canary, sing.’ ' “Wouldn’t that be annoying?” “You’re absurd, just as absurd as you can be,” said the Azara dog. “Ah, friends,” he continued, “it’s my tail that tells the tale.” All the animals it: the zoo laughed. “We!!.” they said, “it's nonsense, but jolly all the same.” “Yes. it’s a jolly, jolly thought,” said

tlie Azara dog. “Xiut it's not nonsense.” "And why not?” asked the others. “Because,” said the Azara dog, “it is true. My tail does tell the tale.” All the animals laughed once more. “I will have to explain,” said the Azara dog. “In the first place I came from South America. Perhaps none of you knew that?” Some of them wagged their heads “Yes,” and some of them shook their heads “No.” “Well, for those who don’t know,” said the Azara dog, “that is the, first piece of information or news, or the first chapter of the book, or the first part of the story, or whatever you want to call it. “In the second place, if it were not for my tail, which looks something like the tail of a dog, I wouldn’t be called a dog, but I wduld be called a gray fox, for I look a great deal like a gray fox. “So you see, friends, that it is my tail which tells tlie tale.

“Or, in other words, my doglike end piece tells the story.” “Oh, we see,” said the other animals. “Glad to hear it,” said the Azara dog. “I thought I dould tell you something, and I have.” “So you have,” the others admitted. “And we see that what you said was not nonsense but the truth.” “The truth, indeed,” said the Azara dog, wagging his tail and saying as he did so, “and the end of my story, but not my tail!”

CONUNDRUMS What has four legs but only one foot? A bed. * • * Why is a black horse hard to train? Because you can’t make a black horse a bay (obey). Why is the redbreast the greatest thief among birds? He is always a robin (a-robbin’). What’s the difference between a bee and a donkey? One ■ gets all the honey, the other all the whacks! Why is an elephant like a man going to a country house to visit? Because he carries his trunk with him. * * * What Is the difference between a hill and a pill? One is hard to get up and the other is hard to get down. The Final Insult Teacher —You have been fighting again with that Jones boy, in spite of my repeated warnings? Johnnie —I couldn’t help it, teacher; he called me a ’orrible name. Teacher —What was it that he called you? Johnnie —He called me teacher’s pet. —Yankee Humor. f Less Trouble Schoolmaster —Be very diligent In your studies. Remember, what you have learned no one can ever take from you. Small Boy—Well, they can’t ever take from me what I haven’t learned either, can they? —Montreal Star. ...