"Let's get to work!" said the land-crabs. And, snip, snap, they began to
make a little hole in the side, with their sharp claws. Snip, snap, snip,
snap,--till it was big enough to get through. Then out they scuttled.
Then out walked the king, carrying his bride; out marched the men-at-arms;
out tramped the elephants, two by two; out came the old man, beating his
donkey; out walked the old woman, scolding the cat; and last of all, out
hopped the parrot, holding a cake in each claw. (You remember, two cakes
were all he wanted?)
But the poor cat had to spend the whole day sewing up the hole in his
coat!
THE RAT PRINCESS[1]
[Footnote 1: Adapted from Frank Rinder's _Old World Japan_. In telling
this story the voice should be changed for the Sun, Cloud, Wind, and Wall,
as is always done in the old story of _The Three Bears_.]
Once upon a time, there was a Rat Princess, who lived with her father, the
Rat King, and her mother, the Rat Queen, in a ricefield in far away Japan.
The Rat Princess was so pretty that her father and mother were quite
foolishly proud of her, and thought no one good enough to play with her.
When she grew up, they would not let any of the rat princes come to visit
her, and they decided at last that no one should marry her till they had
found the most powerful person in the whole world; no one else was good
enough.
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