Domestic Animals 103 



went to them and said: 'Oh, grasshoppers, what 

 sweet voices you have! I never heard anything 

 half so fine as your song. Do tell me what kind of 

 food you eat, that I may try it and have a pleasant 

 voice also.' 



"'Dew, we eat,' said the grasshoppers, 'nothing 

 but dew/ So the donkey said, '/ will eat nothing 

 but dew, 5 but in a very little while he died of hunger. 

 None of us have ever tried to improve our voices 

 since then. 



"I hear that you know a great deal about my 

 cousin, the horse, and that we are alike in many 

 ways, but, dear me, people don't treat me as well 

 as they do him. They call me slow, and stupid, 

 and sometimes beat me with sticks. Do you suppose 

 any donkey likes that ? 



" If you look at my feet you will see that they are 

 quite small, and I can pick my way carefully over a 

 narrow mountain path where a horse cannot go. 

 I am not as large as he and do not need so much 



room.'' 



"What do you eat?" asked Tim. 

 "Oh, hay and grass, as horses do, but not so much 

 at a time. I will eat some things that a horse won't; 



