162 DEATH. 
upon their assistance, earns their respect in case of need. I have seen 
him dart back with his beak the little pebbles which a child had 
flung at him. The most remarkable pastime which he teaches to his 
big friend is, to make him hold by one end a stick which he himself 
draws by the other. This show of a struggle between strength and 
weakness, this simulated equality, is well adapted to soften the bar- 
barian, and though at first he gives but little heed to it, he afterwards 
yields to continued urgency, and ends by throwing himself into the 
sport with a savage good temper. 
In the presence of this repulsively ferocious figure, armed with 
invincible talons and a beak tipped with iron, which would kill at 
the first blow, the crow has not the least fear, With the security of 
a superior mind, before this heavy mass he goes, he comes, he wheels 
about, he snatches its prey before its eyes; the other growls, but too 
late; his tutor, far more nimble, with his black ‘eye, metallic and 
