'THIS COMES HOPPING^ 



15 



a story to tell of another member of their family 

 who spun a web across the entrance of a cave, 

 thereby saving the life of a distinguished fugitive, 

 because his pursuers thought that he must have 

 broken the web if he had gone in to hide. The mice 

 try to talk big about one of their progenitors who 

 delivered a lion from the meshes of a net. The 

 ants never forget that they have been held up as 

 an example to all sluggards. And the doves and 

 ravens coo and croak about the Ark. 



But, according to our ideas, history is only 

 stories, and not a nasty collection of names and 

 dates ; also it is not mere boastfulness, like the 

 records which I have just quoted, but tales of 

 good and tales of evil. Perhaps you will under- 

 stand better what I mean if I tell you two stories 

 out of what we call the history of our family, in 

 one of which we did evil and in the other good. 



There was once a beautiful valley, full of 

 meadows and cows and sheep, and fields of corn all 

 swinging and waving in the breeze. And in the 

 middle of the valley there was a pretty village, 

 where children played in the roads and ran in and 

 out of thatched cottages covered with honeysuckle 

 and roses. There were pig-sties and cow-sheds and 

 stables — fine places for the rats to live in during 



