Page:Stories and story-telling (1915).djvu/96

 could neither eat nor play. At last when evening began to darken, and still no little dog came, and still the little boy watched at the window, the nurse put on her bonnet and shawl and went out to find the little lost dog.

It wasn't long before she was back with a dog that looked something like the dear lost one, but much thinner and quieter. When the little boy said so to his nurse, she said,

"Yes, poor doggie! But he came a long way, Without bite or sup, a night and a day; Give him, my lamb, a bowl of warm milk, And soon you'll see him as sleek as silk."

The little boy ran and gave him the milk. When the little dog had lapped up the milk, he felt so much better that he licked the little boy's face, and the two frisked about the room.

But the little boy noticed that the little dog did not caper so merrily as he used to do. Indeed, the poor creature soon became quiet and sad again. And, although the little boy made his own legs go as fast as a windmill, he could not coax the little dog to run a race with him. He saw, too, that the little dog found it very hard to curl himself up on the hearthrug for a nap. And the next day the little dog was so wretched that he refused to eat.

"Poor, poor doggie, what ails you, whatever ails