A SNAIL STORY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 224, 10 December 1927, Page 29 (Supplement)

A SNAIL STORY

This story never really happened at all, but it is supposed to have happened in the days of dodos, unicorns, mammoths, dragons and sea serpents, before there were such things as school masters, doctors, and clothes. In fact, the world was only half made; the horse still had a cloven hoof, and you wifi?n t ,,?fi V a Search £ <1 the whole world without finding a Pekingese. forests of those days there lued a slug called Susan, with her h»rt ba S- a ,lS rthur and her children Albert, Kathleen and Stanley. Thev were the very first slugs in the world. Su ?£ pll | ars were not yet invented, so the .leaves were theirs to eat, and £ nlSht - ? iave been very happy if ord -*f Susan bad been different. bh e was one of those people who r ° stay ?uietly at home, looking after the children and keeping the house clean. Poor Arthur would come home after a hard day’s work, groanmg under a load of green stuff for the ramily supper, and what would he find? No fire, no table laid, no smiling wife to welcome him. The floor would be mrty, and the children would be grimy and untidy. “Where is your Mother?” he would ask, and they would tell him that she was having tea with Mrs. -beetle, or playing cards with Mrs frog, or gossiping over the garden wall with Mrs. Ladybird. For a long time Arthur bore it in silence, for a sweeter-tempered slug never crawled. But be could not bear to see his children neglected, and at , ver >tured to speak to Susan, unfortunately, Susan could not stand a. word of criticism. She turned up her nose and said: “It is useless to ask me to stick at home all dav, because I won’t. I mean to see as'much of the world as I can.”

After that she was out nearly from morning to night. One evening Arthur had reached the garden gate when he heard a loud sound of crying. Stanlev had pulled the kettle over himself and was badly scalded. Needless to say, Susan was out, but at that moment she came in. Struggling with his sobs, Ai thur told her that while she was gadding about her child had met with a terrible accident. “But.” he said, "I suppose that even this will not change you. You boasted once before that you would never stick to the house.” “Then,” said the Wizard, who had been called in to see poor Stanley, “the house shall stick to her.” He waved his wand. There was a clap of thunder; and Susan found a weight resting upon her back. It was her house. And that, according to this story, is how snails were invented.

FORGIVEN I found a little beetle, so that Beetle was his name, I called him Alexander, and he answered just the same, I put him in a matchbox and I kept him all the day . . . And Nanny let my beetle out and Beetle ran away. She said she didn’t mean It and I never said she did; She said she wanted matches, and she just took off the lid; She said that she was sorry, but it’s

difficult to catch | An excited sort of beetle you’ve mistaken for a match. She said that she was sorry, and I really musn’t mind, And there’s lots and lots of beetles which she’s certain we could find, If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid— And we’d get another matchbox and write BEETLE on the lid. We went to all the places which a beetle might be near, And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear . . . And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout: “A beetle-house, and Alexander Beetle coming out!” It was Alexander Beetle, I’m as certain as can be. And he had a sort of look as if he thought it must be me, And he had a sort of look as if he thought he ought to say: “I’m very, very sorry that I tried to run away.” And Nanny’s very sorry, too, you-know-what-she -did. And she’s writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid. So Nan and Me are friends, because it s difficult to catch An excite Alexander you’ve mistaken for a match. —A. A. MILNE.

A HIGH JUMP Probably ever so many of the bov* your school practise jumping and ruv ning. Well, one day you can play a joke on them. Be prepared for it, though, writing the word YOU on a piece di paper and keeping it in your pocket. Then say to one of your chums: “ a good high jumper, you know.” If U happens that you are not very good, so much the better, for he’ll laugh and say, “I’m glad you think so.” Then say, "Well, anyway, I can jao&g over you.”

Naturally, this will cause a j He’ll laugh. “I’d like to see you.’’ “Very well,” you say, taking off votfl | coat. Then you place the paper with YOQ written on it on the ground and nnnj over that!

RIDDLES What samo« do frogs play Croaky (Croquet). When a blind man went out to ».e* how did he recover his sight?—He toofl a cup and saw, sir (saucer). What is the easiest and yet the mosl 'difficult thing a man ca do? —BoltJ j door. —Sent in by George Lawson.