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 "Nay, nay, we must let them alone. We must not go," said the little pups again.

But the big one gave them no peace until at last they went, and got up on the table, and ate up the bread-crumbs with all their might.

While they were at it a shadow of someone passing the window fell on the table. The big pup knew what it meant. He jumped down and made off. But the little pups were caught. Their mistress seized a stick and whipped them out of the room.

Outside the little pups said to the big pup, "Dost, dost, dost, dost thou see?"

But the mean cur gave them no satisfaction. "Didn't, didn't, didn't you expect it?" said he.

So they had to grin and bear it, and make up their minds to be wiser the next time.

A GOLDEN STORY

There was once a buttercup shining in the green grass. "You're a little golden sun that turns everything into gold," said a child who saw it; "perhaps you can tell a golden story."

And would you believe it? The buttercup began without waiting a single moment: "A certain old grandmother sits out of doors every afternoon in her chair. The hands resting in her lap are wrinkled and so is her face, and her hair is as white as the driven snow. All of a sudden two small