THE CROCODILE'S CHARM 373 



to one of the little girls came from the goat-house 

 and said, " Be quiet, lion ; we want to go to sleep." 

 This made the lion dreadfully angry, and he made 

 up his mind to eat the little girls as well as the 

 bushbuck's head. " Come out," he said, " Come 

 out and I will eat you." " You cannot eat me," 

 replied the ant-eater, " for your jaws are not strong 

 enough." This put the lion into a still more 

 frightful rage. " Only let me get hold of you and 

 you shall see," he roared. " Very well," said the 

 ant-eater, " put your paw through the door, and 

 feel how hard I am." So the lion put his paw 

 through the doorway and tried hard to claw the 

 ant-eater, but when he felt the hard scales of his 

 armour he turned on his heel and went away. 



The Ceocodile's Chaem 



Some years ago, a man living at Lacerdonia had 

 two sons, and as he was getting old they said to 

 him one day, " You are now an old man ; give us 

 a little of everything you possess, and we will go 

 away, and build ourselves houses." So the old 

 man gave them some cloth, and beads, and seed, 

 and millet, and other things, and they set off to a 

 place where they had settled they would in future 

 reside. And as they journeyed along, a lion sprang 

 upon the one who was foremost, and bore him off. 

 So the brother who remained gathered the dead 

 man's scattered possessions from the path, and he 

 was very glad, and said to himself, " Now, with the 

 help of my brother's property added to mine, 1 can 

 get married, for I have now sufficient to buy me a 



