102 



JOSEPH: WHOSE PROPER NAME WAS 

 JOSEPHINE 



Monsieur Alexandre Dumas, who was so fond of 

 animals, and has given us such a delightful account of 

 Pritchard and his ways, was once passing a few months 

 in a palace at Naples. 



It was a beautiful palace, with a garden that had 

 been made long ago by a rich Eoman noble, and terraces 

 that sloped down to the sea itself. These terraces and 

 gardens were filled with fine trees and covered with 

 flowers, and on their walls and stones there basked in the 

 sunshine, thousands of grey and golden lizards. 



Now anyone that has ever watched the behaviour 

 of lizards for long together, knows what strange little 

 creatures they are. How quick, and yet how still ; how 

 shy, and yet how readily tamed; how unnoticeable amidst 

 the grey rocks and stones, yet how easily detected by their 

 bright glittering eyes. 



Amongst all the lizards that made their homes in 

 the gardens of M. Dumas' palace, there was one which 

 seemed as if it had been charged by all its relations to 

 prove to M. Dumas and his guest, M. Goujon, the 

 truth of the proverb, ' the lizard is the friend of man.' 

 This particular lizard was a very bold little person, and 

 very fond of flies, which it would even come to seek 

 by the windows of M. Goujon's room, opening on to the 

 terrace. 



