[Illustration:  The rabbit danced as the wolf shook the rattle]

So the wolf stood in the middle of the field, patting his foot and shaking a rattle while the rabbit danced around him and sang,

  “Watch me dance around the field,
  Watch me dance around the field,
      Hi, la, hi, la, hi!”

Then the rabbit made a ring in the middle of the field.  He said to the wolf, “Now, you dance around this ring, and sing just as I do.”

He made a larger ring for himself and danced around just beyond the wolf.  The wolf thought that this was the finest dance he had ever seen.  He and the rabbit danced faster and faster, and sang louder and louder.

As the rabbit danced, he moved nearer and nearer to the edge of the field.  The wolf was dancing so fast and singing so loud that he did not notice this.

The rabbit kept on singing,

  “Now I dance on the edge of the field,
  Now I dance on the edge of the field,
  Hi, la, hi, la, hi!”

At last, Brother Rabbit reached the edge of the field; then he jumped into the blackberry bushes and ran away.  The wolf tried to give chase, but he was so dizzy that he could not run.  And the rabbit got away without having his ears cut off.

—­SOUTHERN INDIAN TALE.

BLOCK CITY

  What are you able to build with your blocks? 
  Castles and palaces, temples and docks. 
  Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,
  But I can be happy and building at home.

  Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,
  There I’ll establish a city for me: 
  A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,
  And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.

  Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
  A sort of a tower on the top of it all,
  And steps coming down in an orderly way
  To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.

  This one is sailing and that one is moored: 
  Hark to the song of the sailors on board! 
  And see on the steps of my palace, the kings
  Coming and going with presents and things!

  Now I have done with it, down let it go. 
  All in a moment the town is laid low,
  Block upon block lying scattered and free,
  What is there left of my town by the sea?

—­ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

A GOOD PLAY

  We built a ship upon the stairs
  All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
  And filled it full of sofa pillows
  To go a-sailing on the billows.

  We took a saw and several nails,
  And water in the nursery pails;
  And Tom said, “Let us also take
  An apple and a slice of cake;”—­
  Which was enough for Tom and me
  To go a-sailing on, till tea.

  We sailed along for days and days,
  And had the very best of plays;
  But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,
  So there was no one left but me.