THE MAN'S BOOT

New Zealand Tablet, 2 September 1909, Page 35

THE MAN'S BOOT

In a dark wood where wild beasts lived, there once lay a man's boot. How it came there I cannot say, for no man had been there ; at least, the wild beasts had not seen one in all their lives. But there the boot was; and, when the beasts saw it, they all came round to find out what it was. Such a thing was quite new to them; but they were" not much-a^a loss, for .all that. ' Well, there is no doubt as to what it is, I say,' said the bear. ' Oh, of course not,' said the wolf and the goat and all the beasts and birds in one breath. 'Of course,' said the bear, 'it is the rind of some kind of fruit off a tree — the fruit of the cork, I should say. This is cork, it is plain to see,' and he showed the sole of the boot. ' Oh, just hear him, just hear him!' cried all the beasts and birds. ' It's not that at all,' said the wolf, with a glance of scorn at the bear. 'Of course, it is some kind of nest. Look ! Here is the hole for the bird to go in at, and here is the deep part for the eggs and young ones to be safe. No doubt at all, of course, not!' 'Oh, oh!' cried the bear and the goat and all the birds and beasts, ' just hear what he says ! It is not that at all.' ' I should think not,' said the goat. 'It is quite a plain case. Look at this long root!' and he showed the string at the side of the boot. 'It is the root of a plant, of course.' 'Not a bit of it!' cried the wolf and the bear — 'not a bit of it! A root! How can you say so? It is not that, we can all see.' " ' If I might speak,' said an old owl, who sat in a tree near. ' I think I can tell you what it is. I have been in a land where there are more of such things than you could count. It is a man's boot.' 'A what?' cried all the beasts and birds. 'What is a man ; and what is a v boot ?' 2lmm^- c A man,' said the owl, 'is a thing with two legs, that can walk and eat and talk, like us ; but he can do much more than we can.' 'Pooh, pooh!' cried they all. ' That can't be true,' said the beasts. ' How can a thing with two legs do more than we can, who have four? It is false, of course.' ' Of course it is, if they have no wings,' said the birds. ' Well,' went on the owl, ' they have no wings, and I ""st it is true. And they can make things like this; and ■ they call them boots, and put them on their feet.' ' Oh, oh !' cried all the beasts and birds at once. ' How can you? For shame! Fie on you! That is not true, of course. It can not be.' ' A likely story I' said the bear. ' Can do more than we can 1' said the wolf. 1 Wear things on their feet 1' cried they all, 'On the

face of it, your story is not true. We know that such things are not worn on the feet. How could they be?''Of course, they could not,' said the bear; 'it is false.' , '^ , ._ 'It must be false,' cried all" the birds and beasts. '-You must leave! the wood,' they said to the owl. 'What you say can not be "true. - You " are not fit to 'live with us.-. You have said what ybu know is false. It must be, of course.'- * - , . - And they chased * the poor owl out of the wood, and would not let him come back. 'It is truesfor all that,', said the- owl. ; , „,. „ Arid so it .was. '"".--"