suppose, convincing pictures of wild life are done in 

 London, where the author is unhampered by fact or 

 experience. 



" Stick to the impossible, and you will be believed : 

 keep clear of fact and commonplace, and you cannot 

 be checked." 



Such was the cynical advice given many years ago 

 by one who had bought his experience in childhood 

 and could not forget it. Sent home as a small boy 

 from a mission station in Zululand to be educated 

 by his grandparents, he found the demand for marvels 

 among his simple country relatives so great that his 

 small experience of snakes and wild animals was soon 

 used up ; but the eager suggestive questions of the 

 good people, old and young, led him on, and he shyly 

 crossed the border. The Fields of Fancy were fair 

 and free ; there were no fences there ; and he stepped 

 out gaily into the Little People's country The Land 

 of Let's Pretendia ! He became very popular. 



One day, however, whilst looking at the cows, he 

 remarked that in Zululand a cow would not yield her 

 milk unless the calf stood by. 



The old farmer stopped in his walk, gave him one 

 suspicious look, and asked coldly, " What do they do 

 when a calf is killed or dies ? " 



" They never kill the calves there;" the boy answered, 

 " but once when one died father stuffed the skin with 

 grass and showed it to the cow; because they said 

 would do." 



The old man, red with anger, took the boy 

 to his room, saying that as long as he spoke 



377 



that 



