THE ANIMALS’ SECRET

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 288, 25 February 1928, Page 27

THE ANIMALS’ SECRET

Bobby had been put to bed one night , when he .suddenly remembered that * he’d left his Teddy in the nursery. He . just couldn’t go to sleep without . Teddy, so he jumped out of bed and - ran into the nursery to fetch him. . You can guess how surprised he was when, on opening the door, he saw Fluff J the cat and Mick his dog sitting to- , gether on th© hearthrug, talking away as hard as they could go! “Well, this is queer,” thought Bobby, , “I’ll hide behind the door and listen , to what they're saying.” “Wouldn't Bobby be surprised if he , knew Ave could talk?” said Mick. “Of course we must never, ne\ r er let the secret out.” “Oh, no, that would never do,” replied Fluff. “Why, if we did, those humans would make us cats and dogs go to school and do home lessons and go shopping and do work and all the boring things humans have to do.” “Still, it is a pity we can’t talk to humans,” said Mick. “There are heaps of things I’d like to tell Bobby. And, besides, it often quite annoys me when I hear him say, ‘Come for a walk, Mick.’ Of course I jump up at once and wag my tail, and then some silly 1 person says: ‘Look, I really do believe ' he understands what we say to him.’ I often feel inclined to say, ‘Of course, I do, idiot.’ ” “Well, it would be very rude of you ; to say that,” said Fluff primly. "Now, I don’t want to talk much, but I do '• want to sing. I’ve got a really lovely voice and I’m passionately fond of , mus ” She Avas going to say “music,” but just at that moment the j door blew open and she saw Bobby so ] she quickly changed it into a long, ; sleepy “Mew.” “Oh, Fluff and Mick,” cried Bobby, . “what fun to think that you can really talk. Bo go on.” “Now then, Bobby,” said mother, coming upstairs, “what are you doing out of bed? Back you go, quickly.” “But, mother,” explained Bobby, “I just came to fetch Teddy and what do you think, I heard Mick and Fluff talking!” “You must have been dreaming,” laughed mother. “Animals can’t talk.” “Oh, yes, they can,” Bobby assured her. “You can talk, can’t you, Mick and Fluffy?” , Needless to say, the dog and the cat only turned innocent eyes towards him and never said a word. But Bobby is quite sure that he saw Fluff wink before she settled down to sleep in front of the nurse#/ fire. TOFFEE Ann Jupp had a birthday, An’ asked me to tea. There was cakes, an’ Ann Jupp. An’ Tim Jupp, an’ me. An’ then we made toffee. An’ hardly could wait To boil it an’ let it Get cool on a plate. “Who’ll scrape round the saucepan? I ought to,” said Ann. But all of us wanted To scrape out the pan. Ann Jupp said, “Let’s race down The garden—out there— And which of us wins Scrapes the saucepan. That’s fair!” Tim Jupp stayed behind when The race was beginned— So me an* Ann Jupp raced— An’ Ann Jupp she winned. But when we got back To the house, me an’ Ann, There wasn’t no toffee To scrape from the pan. An’ Tim said to Ann Jupp, “Well, who winned the race?” An’ he’d got bits of toffee Stuck all on his face! —Marion St. John Webb. A TRICK TO PLAY Place a reel of cotton in the inside pocket of your coat, and ha\ T ing threaded a needle with the beginning of the cotton, pass the needle through the front of the coat. , Having done this, unthread the needle and leave about two inches of cotton hanging as if it were only a stray piece. The first person you meet ; will be sure to pick it off you, and his astonishment when he finds there . is no end to it will provide plenty of ’ amusement. Billy came home from school bearing e\ery evidence of having had a fight. > “Why, Billy!” exclaimed his mother, > “how often ha\ r e I told you to play* ■ with good little boys? Good little boys 5 don’t fight.” I “Well,” exclaimed Billy through his l tears, “I thought he was a good little boy till I hit him.”

UP AND DOWN When bedtime comes in Brownie Town, Some folks sleep up and some folks down. Up has of leaves a cosy nest, Down thinks the nice cool ground is best. Up dreams of birds that sweetly sing, Down dreams of grasshoppers that spring. In slumber deep both pass the night. But, When with dawn the sky grows bright. The Caller Beetle steps that way. To tell them “Here’s another day— It’s time to sup one’s breakfast cup!” So Up climbs down and Down gets up. —Sent in by Doris Lydster. THE LAZY WHALE Far out in the damp and greenish sea just where it was most damp and most green there was a school for whales. Of course, whales don’t learn things like you do, but they learn things like turning somersaults and swimming and diving and catching fish to eat. Most of them liked it, but there was one who didn’t, and his name A\*as Haggles. Now Haggles was the laziest whale in the sea. He liked to float on top of the water and wait for the fish to swim by, then he would grab them with a snap. Well, of course, some days the fish didn’t swim by for Haggles to grab Avith a snap, and one day he had to go and hunt and hunt and hunt for his dinner. But not a single fish could he find, and he was very hungry. At last he found one tucked away betAveen tAvo rocks, and he politely asked the fish to come out. “What do you want me for?” asked the fish, who Avas a very prickly one with a long name that he never used, because he Avas rather ashamed of it. | “I Avant you for my dinner,” said Haggles. “Oh, do you?” said the fish, waving his spines to and fro. “You couldn’t swallow me if you tried.” And he swam out from the crevice in the rocks, most defiantly. Haggles opened his mouth and the fish floated in, but the next moment the poor whale gasped with dismay, for the fish Avas wriggling and jumping about, thoroughly enjoying the joke. “Oh, don’t,”’ said Haggles very unhappily. “Please, if I open my mouth wide, Avill you swim out?” “Not yet,” said the fish. “I’m not ready. I don’t like you. You’re lazy and you’re greedy and you Avon’t go to school. Now, you start working, and Avhen you’ve- worked really hard I’ll swim out. Not before!”

And so poor Haggles had to dive and swim and turn somersaults, and because he had been lazy for so long it made him very tired. At last he could stand it no longer. He opened his mouth and the fish swam out. “Let that be a lesson to you/ he said as he sped aAvay. And Haggles was so ashamed of himself that he went back to school and has been good ever since. ON THE SANDS Here is a game you may play on the beach when you are tired of paddling and castle building. Take seven buckets and with a pieec of chalk number each from 1 to 7. Set them out in a double row r with the highest number behind. Collect enough small stones to give each player se\*en. The game consists of getting the stones into the buckets, aim being taken an those bearing the highest numbers. The players should kneel co throw and be at least ten paces away. RIDDLES TO SOLVE Why would you hate to change places Avith a carpet?—Because it is always being beaten. What increases its value by half when it is upside down? —The figure 6. What has only a nose left when it has lost an eye?—Noise. Why is an adjective like a new-born baby?—Because it cannot stand alone. “Dear Teacher,” wrote a tired mother, “I do not object to William Brown copying sums from my Henry at school, but I do object to William Brown lying In wait for my Henry and sending him home with a black eye when the sums are not right.” “Can you tell me what a smile Is?” Willie was asked by a friend. “Yes/’j replied Willie “it is the whisper of a 1 laugh.” Tell the Little Thought I have blown him a special thistledown kiss for tIW Pixie Postmen to catch. —Becky Pelham.

THE TULIP BED

Down in the south and of Dca onshire lies the wild and desolate hill country tailed Dartmoor. In onof the pleasant green hollows among the hills there, an old woman lived, not so many years ago, who was the happy owner of a little white-washed cottage, with a garden full of sweet flowers. There was the carnation, with its rich clove-like fragrance; there was the clustering rose covering the little porch, and climbing on the dark thatch of the roof: there, too, was a little stream running along near one side c»r the cottage, its waters making swe» melody as they broke over the s:o:i' bed through which they coursed, and mingling Avith the clear hum of tligood dame's bees, as they flew to ano fro, gathering honey from the wil--thyme and the foxglove. Her chief delight, though she was fond of all her flowers, was a tine beof most beautiful streaked red tulips which her sailor son had planted. 1' was her treasure, and she looked after it most carefully. One bright moonlight night, it seems, the old lady was Caking a breath o' fresh air among her tloweis before going to bed. AA'hen she thought she heard music—the softest and sweetest, music, rising and falling on the air. It Avas as if a thousand tiny voices were singing exquisitely togethe*. Clear and silvery Avere the sounds, but as soft as if they were being produced by little leathered moths which are the sofest things in creation In wonder and delight the dame gentlv walked along to where t; e musi seemed to rise, and found it was coming from the hells of her own manycoloured tulips. She saw them bending anti waving, too, on their stalks, although the night was still, with not the faintest waft i f wind to move them. Standing very quietly, she watched her flowers, and at last she saw by the light of the moon, then just at its full, what was causing the tulips to sway about. There were thousands of lovely little beings climbing on the stems and leaves and blooms, and slit' noticed, too, that most of the tiny things held one tinier than itself in its arms. Th< \ were fairies —pixies, as the folk m Devon call them—who had brought their babies to lay them to sleep in the loA'eiiest of nurseries—the tulip blossoms —and the music was the lullaby with which they were soothing their babies to rest. As soon as the little ones were fast asleep, the old dame saw their elders scamper to play and dance in rings. They seemed to take no notice of her. and she stayed up all that clear moonlight night watching them. Just before the first grpy peeps «.f dawn came into the sky the old woman saw' the fairies stream back to the tulip-bed and. taking up their babies with many kisses and caresses, they carried them away to their own mysterious domains. There are some Dartmoor folk win say that she only heard the music, but certain it is that her tulips bloomec longer than any others and, as the pixies had breathed on them, they became more fragrant than a garden of gilly-flowers and roses. As long as the old lady lived she would not allow a blossom to be gathered, but at last she died, and they who came to live in the cottage turned the bed of tulips into one of parsley, much, apparently, to the disgust of the wee folk. They caused the parsley t<» fade and die. and nothing would grow in that garden for years. But the memory of the? old lady who protected their nursery they kept in affectionate remembrance On her grave grew the greenest of green turf and wild flowers in their season. f<*> as no person tended the place where she lay. the little people saw to it themselves. Dartmoor people to this day poini out the place where lies the little 0,1 lady who loved the fairies and her tulips. TINY AND THE TOAD Tiny was a little girl of seven S • had no brothers or sisters, but she went every* day, except Saturday’, to school It was such a long way oft that DadtK took her in the car and brought lnhome at tea-time, when he came from his work. One day Daddy was not well, so Tiny had a holiday. She walked into tingarden and sat down on the grass by an old tree, and sighed. “What’s the matter, little girl'.” said a voice near her. Tiny looked round, but could not see anyone. Then she saw* that the voice came from a hole in the root of the tree. And it belonged to a toad “I didn't know toads could talk,” site said. “You haven’t answered my question, he said. “I am sorry,” said Tiny*, and she told him all about it. “What did you say your name was?” asked the Toad. “I didn’t say it was anything.” said Tiny*. “They call me Tiny.” “What would you give me, if I could make your daddy well again" asked the Toad, and he stared at her very wisely*. “I don’t know what toads like/* said Tiny. “What could I give you?” “Well,” said the Toad, 'I love flies. Would you catch me a hundred flies a day?” Tiny* said she “ did not think she could; she would hate catching flies. Could ho think of something else” The Toad thought for a moment “I Avould like you to do this for in*'.'* he said at last. “Always be kind t« every toad you see, all your life. Is that a promise?” And. of course. Tiny’ promised. “Now,” said the Toad, ‘go home, and you will find your daddy is quite well. Climb on to his lap and tell him about this little talk we have had, and ask him to be kind to toads and he will promise. But all the same, as he is a grown-up, I think be wtn say you hove been, dreaming.” And off Mr. Toad hopped. Tiny went home as quickly* as she could, and she found Daddy was quite well again; his headache had gon** away*, and he tvanted to see her. And it all came true as Mr. Toad had said. But Tiny knew it wasn' . a dream at all. She was always so k.nd to toads, and her daddy* told her that they* wer* the gardener’s best friends, so was all right. * r-r MEMBERSHIP CARDS Children of 15 and under are invited to send their names, ages and addresses to the Dawn Lady, Happy Town, THE SUN Office, Auckland, when a Membership Card will reach them at an early ; ! date.