bottom of his bottle in a very queer attitude. 

 His eyes were drawn in, his head was bent down, 

 his feet rolled up— his whole body huddled into 

 a ball less than half its normal size. After a time 

 he began to kick and gasp as if in pain, rolling 

 and unrolling himself desperately. I thought he 

 was dying. He would double up into a bunch, 

 then kick out suddenly and stand up on his hind 

 legs with his mouth wide open as if trying to 

 swallow something. He was trying to swallow 

 something, and the thing had stuck on the way. 

 It was a kind of cord, and ran out of each corner 

 of his mouth, passing over his front legs, thin- 

 ning and disappearing most strangely along his 

 sides. 



With the next gulp I saw the cord slip down 

 a little, and, as it did so, the skin along his sides 

 rolled up. It was his old suit ! He was taking 

 it off for a new one ; and, instead of giving it to 

 the poor, he was trying to economize by eating 

 it. What a meal ! What a way to undress ! 

 What curious economy ! 



Long ago the naturalists told us that the toads 

 ate their skins — after shedding them ; but it was 

 never made plain to me that they ate them while 

 [306] 



