&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS                                                  CA803C04.TXT

GRADE 3, 1980s

COMBINED 3 SAMPLES: 
          CA803.TXT & CA8032.TXT A& CA8033.TXT = CA803C.TXT

1st -- Sampled from OISE/UT Toronto Dec 9-10 Dec 2003 by dph
1ist edited by dph 21 Dec 2003
re-edited for residuals 23 Mar 04
re-re-edited 21 June 2005


&&111
Walruses live together in large herds,
and their roars and bellows make them the noisiest creatures in the =Arctic.
Only the southern edge of the =ArcticCircle is not frozen all year long. It is called the tundra, a
place of low-growing plants, wet bogs, and dry winds.
An iron-hard layer of earth lies beneath the tundra.
It is always frozen. During the =Arctic winter,
from November to February, the sun does not appear at all. The tundra is a vast expanse of snow.
Gradually the sun returns and by May the tundra snow begins to melt and leaves a thin layer of
mud.
Mosses and flat lichen grow on rocks. Lichen eats away at the rock, which slowly crumbles and
becomes soil. The soil is the home for long, shallow roots of plants that grow close to the ground,
sheltered from frigid winds.

On the tundra, dwarf willows have branches
no bigger than your finger. Bees, spiders, and beetles are at home in this world of small tough
flowers and grasses. Melting snow leaves pools and puddles where mosquitoes breed. They
hover thickly in the air at midsummer over an expanse of dandelions, buttercups, and golden
Arctic poppies.
The tundra is crossed by rivers and dotted by lakes. Streams flow from inland mountains to the
coast.
In summer, shorebirds migrate from their winter homes to the rocky beaches of the =Arctic.


But his mother's present was the best. As he took out the box that held it, his heart beat faster.
Would she like it? Would she see how special it was?
He had made her a bird. It had taken him a long time He had found bits of wood the right shape
and glued them together, one by one. When it was done, =Daddy had let him spray it with silver
paint. The bird could not stand up by itself, but, if you leaned it against something, it seemed to
stand, with wings spread, as though it were about to fly.
=Gregory thought it the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Carrying the gifts, he started tiptoeing across the hall. He paused at =Holly's door. It hardly
seemed fair going downstairs without her.
She would giggle, though, and waken the others. Besides, he was only slipping down for one
minute. He would put the things under the tree.  and maybe just check to see if something new
had been put with his pile of presents.
There was something new! It was right on top and it was huge. Kneeling quickly to look,
=Gregory almost dropped his mother's bird.
He was too excited to arrange the three gifts carefully, as he had meant to do. He put them down
without noticing where and reached for the big box.
Then the hawk flew down and perched on the child's shoulder, and gazed at the bottle with his
most formidable gaze. "Madam," he finally said, "it is a beautiful object. Pleasing shape, lovely
colour and a sort of inner fire that gives it a most interesting glitter. Both round and clear. No real
movement there, of course, but it has a definite charm nevertheless. I would say without a doubt
that this is a =Christmas, and quite a good example of one at that."

Now the fox went over and nibbled at the neck of the bottle. "Certainly no crunch there, and not
any juice, either," he grumbled. "Tastes of snow, and winter air, and maybe just a little salt." He
was rather disappointed. "Yes, I suppose this is a =Christmas, my dear. But if I were you, I'd let it
sit until summer. By then it may have gotten some of its flavor back."

The Mockingbird just whispered,
"No sound at all. How remarkable! No sound at all!" He shook his head sadly for a while, then he
gave a low whistle and flew away.

The little girl took up the bottle, brushed the snow from its sides, and put it under her coat. Then
she started on the long journey back home.

The hawk, after expounding a little
on the virtues of the =Christmas, flew off
to the =GreatFinnForests to hunt for weasels. The fox, after a day of traveling
thanked the little girl for a pleasant experience, bowed low over her hand, and trotted off to try
and get a decent meal somewhere.
They spent the night in a deserted castle,
and on the morning of the fourth day the three travelers met a great red hawk perched on the
limb of a fir tree.

"Halt!" snapped the hawk. Since he was very regal-looking, they all did as they were told. "I have
been watching you from afar for a day and a night, and I demand to know where you are going
and why you are going there."

"Well of course," said the little girl. "We are looking
for a =Christmas. It was I who wanted to find one first, you see, because I don't know what it is.
And then
my friends the cat and the dog decided that they would like to find a =Christmas, too. So,
although we don't know exactly where we are going, at any rate that is why we are going there."

"I see," said the hawk, frowning and moving from one foot to the other. "Well, I can tell you right
now that such a thing does not exist. If it did, I would have seen it on my travels. What does a
=Christmas look like? Does it glitter? Does it move? Quickly or slowly? Is it dark or bright?
What color is it? Is it round and fuzzy or is it flat and clear? Does it change its shape, or does it
remain the same?"

"Bless you, =Hawk," said the little girl, "I can't answer
your questions because I myself have never seen a =Christmas, or even heard it described. If you
really want to know what it looks like, why don't you come along with us, and when we find one
you may see for yourself."

After a moment's thought, the hawk agreed to come. As the others walked along he flew behind
them at a sedate height.
that he was still carrying his lunch.
"=Vincenzo," asked his father, "what did you eat for lunch?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! You took a good lunch to school and ate nothing? What's the matter, are you sick?"
"No =Papa, I'm not sick. I didn't feel like eating, that's all."
"The day that you don't eat your lunch, =Vincenzo, there is something wrong. Please, tell me
what it is!"

=Vincenzo shifted his weight from one foot to the other
and back again. His left hand moved across his face and stopped behind his ear where it began to
scratch.
"My friends. =Umm they =uh =laughed at my sandwich and shouted, =Vincenzo eats stinky
meat!' "
"Oh," sighed his father. "So that's it. Come here."

=Vincenzo climbed into his father's lap as he had done many times before and waited for him to
speak. "Why do you think they laughed at you?"
"Because my sandwich stinks, that's why! But it is a good sandwich, isn't it?"
"Do you like mortadella and provolone, =Vincenzo?" "Yes, =Papa, I do."
"Then it is a good sandwich. Your friends laughed because it was different. It smelled strange,
looked different, and it was new to them."
"Are you sure?" asked =Vincenzo, doubtfully.
=Potter put on his thinking cap.
"I will not give up," he said, clenching his fists. "Where there's a will, there's a way!"
=Potter hired a dirigible and had himself lowered down =Mona's chimney disguised as =Santa
=Claus. But, since it was the middle of summer, =Potter could not bamboozle =Mona. She
showed him the door.
A little while later, =Potter ran into =BlossomSkunk. "I think =Mona is mad at me," he said. "But
I just don't know why."  ,
"Why don't you ask her?" suggested =Blossom.
=Potter dialed =Mona's number. "=Mona," he said, "why are you mad at me?"
"Because you told =Bruce the =Toad I had big feet!" said =Mona. "Why, =Mona, I never said
you had big feet," said =Potter.
"Well in that case," said =Mona, "why don't you come to my party?"

=Mona greeted =Potter with open arms. "We've missed you!" she said, giving him a party hat.
Potter was so glad that he had made up with =Mona. Soon, he was having the time of his life.
But while =Mona was dancing a wild fandango, =Potter turned to =Bruce the =Toad and
whispered, "But you know, =Mona does have big feet!"
"I heard that, =Potter!" cried =Mona.
And she kicked =Potter out. "And don't you dare




That very evening she muffled herself up, and made her way back through the forest to the house
of the giant. First she listened at the window, and there she heard the giant eating his supper. She
crept into the house and hid under his bed. In the middle of the night, =Molly climbed softly up
to the great bed and unhooked the giant's sword. The sword hung from a nail on the wall. The
shutters shook with the snores of the giant.
When =Molly came to the door, she accidentally rattled
the sword and woke up the giant. Then =Molly ran
and the giant ran and they both ran, and at last they came to the =BridgeofOneHair. =Molly ran
over, but not the giant, for run over he couldn't. Instead, he shook his fist at her across the bridge,
and shouted: "Woe betide you, =Molly =Whuppie, if you ever come back again."
But =Molly laughed and said: "Maybe twice I'll come
to see you, and maybe once again."
Then =Molly carried off the sword to the King.
And soon, her eldest sister married the King's eldest son.

After the wedding, the King said: "That was a thing
done well, =Molly. But I know another,
and that's better still. Steal the purse that lies
under the giant's pillow, and I'll marry your second sister to my second son." =Molly looked at
the King's second son, and said she would try.
So, she muffled herself up and stole through the forest to the giant's house. There he was,
guzzling his supper as usual. This time, =Molly hid herself in the closet.'
A stuffy place that was.
I peeked out from under the cover. The street was quiet. Then I heard a sound. =Crunch!
=Crackle! =Klunk! The sound was close to me. The sound was me. The garbage can was
=crunchy and =crackly and =klunky.
Every time I moved, it was =crunchier and =cracklier.
I lifted up the cover. I got out. I had a new plan.
A better plan. I would not wait for the garbage snatcher. I would go out and find him.



I crept down the street. I looked to the right
and to the left and behind me. Right, left, behind. Right, left, behind. Smack! Something big hit
me. It was in front of me. The one place I forgot to look. I do not think I made a dent in the
telephone pole. I kept creeping and looking. Right, left, behind, front.
Looking around, he saw his clam shovel,
and an idea popped into =Simon's head.
He would dig a channel for the salmon to swim down to the sea. That was all he had to do. He
began to dig and the wet sand was heavy, but he would do it! He dug and dug.
After a while he stopped and looked to see
how far he had gone, and he had not gone very far at all. He kept on digging. His mother called
him for supper, but he couldn't go because he hadn't finished yet. The salmon was lying quietly
now in the shallow water, waiting.
The sun dipped low in the sky and the air became cool. =Simon's hands were red and he was
getting a blister, but he kept on digging.
At last, just when he thought he couldn't lift
another shovelful of sand, he looked up and there he was, at the pool. The channel was finished.
Cold sea water flowed into it. When the salmon felt the freshness of the sea, it began to move
again. Its nose found the opening to the channel and slowly, slowly, the salmon began to swim
down it. Down to the sea.



The lady asks for my mother.
I say, "My mother will call you back.
Can I take a message?" The lady says "Yes." She spells out her name so I can write it down. She
tells me her phone number to write down too. Then she thanks me and says "Good-bye."
=Bisquits thinks I did that very well.

I put the note on the kitchen table
under the sugar bowl. I remember the hamburgers and take them out of the freezer. I do my last
page of homework. I wash the glass I used for milk.
Then I look out the window. The dark shadows mean night is coming. =Bisquits and I count the
lights in the windows across the street.
The animals are resting now. They had a good day. =Bisquits is cuddly. She likes our new town.
=Bisquits says the animals hope we can keep this town for a long time. =Bisquits says maybe
Mom will not mind, if I promise to keep my room very clean.

It is almost six o'clock. =Mom gets home even before she said she would!
I show =Mom the town I built, with the clock in the tower and the magic music box.

"It is beautiful," =Mom says.
"Can I leave it up for a few days if I promise to keep my room clean?" I ask.
"Yes," she says, "if you keep your promise."
"=Twiggy and I climbed a tree while we were waiting for you," Cory told Dr =Mary. "And now
we're having a rest."
"The dogs look as if they're waiting for their turn," said Dr =Mary.

"There seem to be more dogs here today than there were last time," said =Cory.
Dr =Mary smiled. "Some of them are just visiting," she said. "I never can be sure how many
animals will be here when I get home. Sometimes I have the feeling that all the dogs in the
neighborhood drop in for a visit while I'm away."     .

=Cory laughed. "They like coming here as much as I do. Do you remember the first time I came
to visit you?" she asked.
"I remember very well," said Dr =Mary. "When I told you about my Animal Hospital, you
laughed and laughed."
"I did too," said =Cory, "because I thought you had animals in little white beds, like the one I was
in when I had my tonsils out."

"A little boy once brought his kitten to my hospital," said Dr =Mary. "He expected that the
animal doctor would be a giant cat. He was quite disappointed when he found it was me."
"That's funny," laughed =Cory. "We both made a funny mistake."
=StubbornOldWoman answered, "Rat you said I could have it!"

And she pulled and pulled and pulled, until f op! up came the rock from the ocean floor.

Then wasn't =SkySpirit sorry! With the rock gone,
the sea began to pour down and down into the bottomless pit that was the hole in the sea.
Around and around in great circles went the water, faster and faster. And around and around in
her stew pot, went the little old woman, with the rock clutched tight in her arms.
"Put it back!" cried all the creatures of the air, very frightened.

"Put it back!" cried all the creatures of the sea, very much frightened, too.

"Put it back!" roared angry =SkySpirit from the clouds.

But the stubborn old woman would not put back the rock into the hole in the sea. "It's mine
now!" she said. So =SkySpirit had to hurry and send =LittleDog down to earth.
"Go put your nose in the hole in the sea!" commanded =SkySpirit. And =LittleDog did.

But his nose was too small, and the water was too cold, and down, down went the sea. 


The =OldWoman took shivering =Littl Dog into her stewpot. "From now on, you can be my little
dog," she said, "and I will love you always." When she came home, she opened the refrigerator
door, took =Mabel out, and bit off one maple sugar arm. She held it in her mouth, closed her
eyes, spread out her arms, and twirled in slow circles in the maple sugar snow falling all around
her
in the kitchen until she was dizzy and there was nothing left in her mouth but maple sugar juice.
Then she swallowed it.

Before she went to bed that night, she opened
the refrigerator door to say Good Night to =Mabel
with no legs and one arm. When she got up, she opened the refrigerator door to say Good
Morning.

But in the morning, =Mabel was missing two legs and two arms. In fact, she had no legs and no
arms left at all.

So =Ida said to her mother, "Hey, =Mom, are you sure you didn't see someone in the kitchen last
night?"
And her mother said, "No, I didn't see anyone coming or going."

=Ida went to school.

When she came home, she opened the refrigerator door and bit off half the body of maple sugar
=Mabel. Then she lay down on the floor and closed her eyes and made angel wings with her arms
in the maple sugar snow on the kitchen floor until there was nothing left in her mouth but maple
sugar juice, and she swallowed it.
In a nearby village lived a great chief
who had three daughters. The youngest of the daughters was very beautiful and sweet-tempered
and was loved by everyone. Her sisters were jealous of her, and treated her cruelly. They tried to
make her look ugly. They made her dress in rags and cut off her long black hair. They took coals
from the fire and burned her face
so she would have scars. The young girl did not complain, but went about her work as usual.

One evening the two older daughters decided to try =StrongWind's test. When =StrongWind's
sister asked if they could see him coming, each one answered "Yes."
Then the sister asked, "What is his shoulder strap made of?" The sisters guessed and said,
"Rawhide."
Later they looked in the tent where =StrongWind was eating supper. They could see the coat and
moccasins he had been wearing, but they could not see him. They went =Tome alone and
disappointed.

One day, the younger daughter decided that she would try to win =StrongWind. She tried to
make herself look pretty. She patched her dress with birchbark, put on the few ornaments she
owned, and set off. All the people laughed at her, and her sisters called her a fool. She took no
notice of them, and continued on her way

=StrongWind's sister welcomed her kindly, and took her to the beach. When =StrongWind came,
his sister said, "Do you see him?" The girl spoke the truth. "No!" she said.
At the very moment that the gates slammed shut, the king's horsemen galloped toward the castle
with spears upraised. His archers were lined up-eager to let loose their arrows. A battering ram
and a sling for hurling rocks were being rolled forth, creaking and groaning on the heavy wheels.

Then, for days, the battle continued, but each day the duke's loyal men fought off the enemy. The
walls stood firm; the gates held fast. The army, made up of country folk, remained strong.

But days turned into weeks and the food supply in the castle grew less and less. The duke's
people, though I've, were very hungry because they could only have one small meal each day.
They began to complain. "Our stomachs growl with hunger, while in our fields the hare is having
a picnic with our cabbages and the deer feasts on our corn. We must go and chase the animals
away before all our food is stolen."
But no one could leave the castle. The duke was not one to surrender.

Among the people were shepherds
who could be seen gazing out the castle windows with hopes of seeing their flocks.
"No one is there to watch our wandering sheep. Who's to save the lambs from the prowling
wolves?" they cried.
Still, no one could leave the castle. The duke was not one to surrender.
Meanwhile the dog was very worried.
"What shall I do? Where can I get an army?" he sighed. Two days passed. The dog could not eat
or sleep.
The old barn cat saw the dog becoming worse and worse. Finally he said, "What's the matter with
you? Why are you looking so miserable?"
"I am in very bad trouble and you won't be able to help me," answered the dog.

"Tell me about it and then we'll see if I can help you or not."
So the dog told the old cat all about his war with the wolf.
"Now, now, my friend. It's not so bad.
I will help you," said the cat.
"Go call the gander and the drake.
Don't look so doubtful. I'm sure we'll win."
The dog was not convinced, but he did as he was told, and the drake and the gander promised to
help.

Finally the day set for the war came.
Early in the morning before the sun was up, the dog and his friends set out from the farm. First
came the gander marching proudly, holding his head high. He kept time by calling, =Tra ta-ta!
=Tra ta-ta! just like an army drum. Behind him marched the dog and the cat
with their tails straight up. Last came the drake keeping time with his constant, =Tok tok-tok!
=Tok tok-tok!


Once there was, and twice there wasn't, a hare,
a little hare, a little snowshoe hare. In a thicket
she was born; under the drooping, snow-laden branches of some saplings overlooking the edge of
the prairie.

On a moonlit night, when the last of the big snow had emptied the sky, she first looked out onto
the strange new world that sparkled white and cold and still. High on her hind legs she stood,
bright eyes peering curiously about, nose trembling, whiskers aquiver, ears raised high and
twitching back and forth.

Then, in one hop, leap, and bound, she was off and away; in another, she was in the open
meadow; in another, she was sunk in the soft, powdery snow, high over her haunches, deep up to
her ears.
The hare, the little hare, the snowshoe hare, cried out, "Snow, Snow, you fall so gently, you fall
so silently, and you cover everything about. Tell me, Snow, are you mightiest of us all?"

But the Snow only sighed, "Hare, little hare, snowshoe hare, if I were mightiest of us all,
tell me, how could the chinook wind breathe on me and warm me and melt me to nothingness?"
in the middle of the village. =Nyaloti came too,
with the baby in a basket on her head.
And many other people came, just to hear the palaver.
"=Ketu," said the chief, "your wife tells me you laugh when there is nothing to laugh about. Is
that true?"
"Oh, Chief," said =Ketu, "I never laugh without a reason. But I can't tell the reason. If I tell, I will
die!"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the chief. "Talking never killed anyone!"
=Nyaloti said, "He laughs at me, Chief. I'm the only one around."
"No," said =Ketu. "It isn't that!"
"If you don't laugh at your wife, what do you laugh about?" demanded the chief.
Someone shouted, "Tell us, =Ketu. We want to laugh too!"
The chief said, "=Ketu, if you will not tell,
your wife will have to take the baby and go back to live with her father."

=Ketu's head drooped. He dug his toe into the sand
at his feet, =sasasa. He didn't know what to do.
Just then his baby began to cry, =ke-yaa, =ke-yaa, =ke-yaa! =Ketu watched as =Nyaloti lowered
the basket and lifted out their beautiful baby. The pacifier he had made dangled from the baby's
fat little wrist.
You are kind. I'm going to give you a gift."
=Ketu laughed, =to-e, =to-e, =to-e! "What can a small creature
like yourself give to me?" he asked.
"A magic gift," said the snake. "From now on, you will hear animals think. But you must not tell
anyone, or you will die!"
=Ketu was not sure he wanted such a gift. He tried to protest. But the little snake had vanished!

That night =Ketu's wife, =Nyaloti, put their baby into her basket bed. She tucked a pacifier, made
from the neck of a tiny gourd,
into the baby's mouth. And she patted her to sleep, =pah, =pah, =pah. Then =Ketu fastened the
door. And he and =Nyaloti lay down on their low beds along the walls of the hut.

Soon they heard mosquito going =zeee
around the door. And =Ketu heard it say to itself, "I know they're in there!
Fat, juicy people! But I can't find a big-enough crack!"
=Ketu laughed, =ge-e, =ge-e, =ge-e. He laughed so hard, he rolled off his bed =GU-MAPP!
=Nyaloti cried, "What's so funny, =Ketu!"
"Nothing!" said =Ketu as he climbed back into bed. He could not tell her.


&&000 THIS COMES FROM CA8032

&&111
Down below, everyone waited. Nobody moved. The skunk's tail was straight up like a stick. He
had been annoyed by the wind and the noise of that helicopter. He hadn't liked that one bit! But
the noise disappeared, and slowly, slowly, his tail went down.

The little skunk would have liked to continue his walk, but there didn't seem to be any way out of
the square. And the cars and the people were all jammed together. They didn't dare move forward
and they couldn't move back. Things might have stayed that way if it hadn't been for the mayor.

He was getting angrier every minute. "It must be a bomb," he said. "Or maybe something from
outer space. It has to be serious to make everyone stand like dummies."

So he picked up his radio again. "This is the mayor. Send the Special Emergency Squad to the
intersection of =Yonge and =StClair! Immediately!"

While all this was going on, the skunk was getting tired of his adventure. He didn't like the hot
pavement. And there was nothing to eat in the intersection-just some old popcorn that made him
thirsty. He wanted to find his way back to the ravine for a snack.

The skunk didn't know he'd caused a traffic jam that stretched for blocks. He didn't know that the
Emergency Squad and the bomb experts were on their way. He just felt like going on his way.



"Oh dear!" said Mrs =Bergman. "Be careful, =Hans."
Just then, Mr =King waved at them from the back of the Laundromat. A machine was empty, so
they could get started. Mr =Bergman picked up one of the bags and began to push his way toward
the washer. Mrs =Bergman followed with the soap, picking her way around the laundry baskets
and small children on the floor.
=Hans and =Inge went outside and walked up and down, watching the traffic and looking in store
windows. =Inge bought a pear at the corner fruit market, and =Hans found a terrific set of
monster teeth in the Variety Store. He hurried back to the laundromat to show them to his
mother.
That place was busier and noisier than ever. =Hans and =Inge saw their mother, stuffing clothes
into a dryer. She called to them to come and help.
"Your father's gone to get the tires on the car changed," she said, "and I'm all out of quarters, so I
have to go to a store to get some change."
Hans decided that this was not a good time to show his mother his monster teeth.
"We just have one load left to do," said his mother. "if you find an empty washer while I'm out,
put these clothes in-and don't forget the soap!" She hurried off to get some change.
=Inge and =Hans watched the red lights on the washers to see if any were finished. Finally, they
saw a tall man taking his clothes out of a machine near the front of the laundromat.
"Quick, =Hans, bring the bag," cried =Inge.
A woman was heading for the same machine with a basket of clothes, but =Hans and =Inge were
too fast for her. She stood there, frowning angrily, as they dumped in their clothes and slammed
down the lid!


When they had gathered as much as they could carry, they started home. In twilight and in dark
of night, through mountains high and mountains low, through forests of pine, through groves
where oak trees grew, through many trees of tall bamboo-they walked and walked, on and on and
on.

And they did not lose their way, for they followed the wonderful bamboo shoot all the way home.

The next night, everyone gathered for a huge feast in honor of =Taro's birthday.

Such a feast! Fish, seaweed, shellfish, and bamboo shoots.

"A wonderful feast!" everyone said.

"The best we have ever had," added =Taro's next-door uncle, "even though I swallowed a
fishbone."

After that day, the people of the mountains cut a new path along the wonderful bamboo shoot
and made many trips to the sea.

=Taro's mother and father and uncles and aunts and neighbors busied themselves there catching
fish and shellfish.

=Taro and his friends helped them. But often, they paused and looked out across the wide blue
sea,
dreaming about the distant lands that lay-so it was said-far, far beyond.
.

A ring of bright ripples rolled in to lap the shore where =Paula was reading. She looked up,
shading her eyes with one hand. The waters stilled.

More ripples rolled to shore. This time =Paula stood up. What was out there? Salmon jumping
maybe?

She looked harder, squinting. A grey head bobbed on the water. A swimmer? An old man
swimming out there?

Somewhere on the high ground behind her =Paula could hear her brother =Eddy and some other
boys playing field hockey. Then "=Thwack!" A stick hit the hard ball they used, and drove it
right out into the cove. It landed with a smack and a splash.

The swimmer disappeared.

"You hit him!" =Paula yelled up to her brother and his friends who rushed to the edge of the bank
looking for their ball.

"Where'd it go, =Polly?" they called.

"You drowned him! The old man!" =Paula was frantic now, pointing at where she'd last seen the
swimmer.


"=Hmmm," said =Mole. "The Old Mole Family Way is not working."
=Troll looked worried. Mole thought again.
"I know!" cried =Mole. " I was mixed up. We tie the string to the doorknob. Then I slam the
door. And the tooth will come right out-presto!"
"Stink-o!" said =Troll. "I will not do that. That will really hurt."
"But, Troll, that is the real Old Mole Family Way. I promise it won't hurt."
"Promise crisscross applesauce?" "Promise crisscross applesauce."
"All right, =Mole," said =Troll. "But I am not ready. Don't slam the door until I say `now.' "
=Mole tied the string to the doorknob.
He opened the door. He sat next to =Troll. He waited for =Troll to say "now." He waited for a
long time.
"Are you ready yet?" asked =Mole. "Please don't rush me," said =Troll. So they waited some
more.

=Kristli felt he must help the old hen. So he waded into the cold, dirty water, boots and all. He
hoped he could catch the coop. But whenever he thought he was reaching it, it moved away out
of his grasp.
=Kristli took another step. The water was deeper there.
=Hundli knew that =Kristli shouldn't do that. He ran up and down the shore barking with all his
might. "Come back, =Kristli," he barked. "Boo! Woo!"
=Kristli pretended he did not hear. He took one step after another into the dirty water. In no time
at all he was in it up to his shoulders.
"Boo! Woo!" barked =Hundli, louder than ever. "=BooWooBooWoo!"
Still =Kristli did not listen.
Then =Hundli jumped into the water and swam out to get =Kristli. He caught his coat between
his teeth and he pulled and pulled as hard as he could.
"Go back, =Hundli," scolded =Kristli. He was very near the coop now. He was sure he could
reach it.
"They'll get their pretty feathers wet!" sputtered the old hen.
=Kristli took another step forward, but this time he could not find the bottom. His foot went
down, down, down into the deep, muddy water.
He came up, of course, splashing and floundering. He couldn't find a place for his feet. Down he
went again! Down, down, down.
The he felt something pulling at his coat.
It was =Hundli. He pulled and he tugged. He kept =Kristli's head just above the water, but he
wasn't strong enough to pull him to the shore.

=Crabby old Mrs =March always knocked on the window to call him in, and then you saw how
badly he limped. The ugly old woman always seemed to want Mr =March to go in just as
conversation at the gate was getting interesting. Once he was telling how he had escaped from
the enemy during the war. "Knock, Knock, Knock" she went on the window. With one hand she
told Mr =March to come in, and with her other she told =Paula to go back to her own side of the
duplex.

=Paula had moved fast, but she heard Mr =March say kindly, "My wife wants me. Her back is
very sore today and she needs my help."

=Paula was only seven but she was tough. Even kids as old as ten knew better than to push her
around. But she was really afraid of old Mrs =March.

Mrs =March sometimes sat on the old rocking chair on her porch, but she never came out any
further than that. =Paula thought that was a good thing because she would scare people on the
sidewalk. =Paula knew for sure that she would never go into the =Marches' yard, even though Mr
=March was the nicest man she had ever known.

Mr =March always went to the supermarket early Saturday morning. He would limp the half
block down to the corner and then take the streetcar for three blocks to the store. He always was
really tired when he got home and he didn't stand at the gate until the next morning.


On a lonely farm in the mountains lived a farmer and his wife. They were neither rich nor poor,
and the pride of the farmer's life was his herd of black and white cows.

One day in the late summer, the farmer decided to go down the mountain to the Fair. As he was
leaving, he said to his wife, "I may be very late, and you will be all alone. Can you take care of
things by yourself?"

"Certainly," said his wife. So the farmer went on his way, and the wife went about her business.
She did not mind being alone. She was busy all day, and, as night drew on, she built the fire and
took up her knitting. Suddenly, she was startled to see a man standing in the doorway. He was
stout, had straw-colored hair, and though he did not think she saw it-he had a big stick under his
jacket.
"Good evening," said the farmer's wife. "Where is your husband?" asked the stranger. "Busy in
the barn, but he will be back shortly."

Long ago there was a poor boy who lived with an old fisherman in a village at the edge of the
sea. His mother had died and his father had been lost at sea, so the boy lived by helping the old
man mend his nets and take his fish to market.
Every morning, when the sun was rising, the boy liked to climb the cliffs behind the village.
From the top of the cliffs he could watch the sun come up over the ocean.
One morning, when the sun was just beginning to turn orange, and then red, the boy saw a
wonderful sight. It was a flock of cranes, flying towards the sun. The feathers of the great birds
shone like flakes of gold. The sound of their wings filled the air.
The boy went home and told the old fisherman what he had seen. "You are very lucky," the old
man sighed. "It is not everyone who sees the golden cranes."
After that the boy often saw the beautiful golden birds, rushing towards the sun. He never grew
tired of the sight. One day, as he was climbing back down the cliffs to the village, he saw
something shining among the bushes below.
The gleaming object moved, and then was still again. The boy bent closer to see what it was. As
he pushed back the bushes with his hand, the boy gasped in surprise. One of his golden cranes
was trapped there with a broken wing.
Gently, the boy reached out his hand to the wounded bird. It looked at him with eyes filled with
pain. The boy felt a great sorrow for the crane. He wrapped it in his shirt and carefully carried it
down to the fisherman's hut.



"Is that what the planet =Mars does?" =Mireille asked in surprise. "Tidies up messy
rooms?"

As an old friend, =Teresa felt free to give her frank opinion: "The tree isn't very pretty with all
those things hanging on it, is it? I think the little streamers that are coiling by themselves are the
nicest ones of all."

"But your plant would be quite pretty without all those things on it," =Solange said, kindly.

=Denise was furious. She hurried her friends downstairs and said goodbye to them, then marched
back upstairs to her room. She tried to pull her belongings off the greedy tree, but it didn't want
to let anything go! Its coils held onto every single thing it had collected.

=Denise took her scissors and tried to cut the coils. No luck.

The scissors slid closed again as if they were trying to cut iron. A knife was no better. It ended up
with a chipped blade.

When =Pierre came home from school, he found his sister red in the face and out of breath
chopping at the trunk of the plant with his =BoyScout axe. But the sharp blade hit the stem with a
thud and slipped across it without even nicking it.

"You and your silly presents!" =Denise said to her brother. " think of me?"
&&000 end of CA8033


&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS    2004                                          CA8033.TXT

3RD GRADE ---  3RD SAMPLE OF 3RD GRADE BOOKS
sampled by dph at OISE/UT 12 Jan 2004
edited by dph 18, Jan 2004

&&111
When he had finished, the little man sat down on a tiny stool and began to mend a shoe. He was a
leprechaun. =Tom knew it at once.
Everyone in County =Cork talked about elves and fairies. But =Tom had never seen one, nor had
any of his friends.
"Seeing is believing," they said to one another. And because they had not seen any, they were
sure the little folk did not exist.
And now, here was =Tom face to face with a leprechaun. What should he do?
Everyone said that leprechauns did not like to be seen by
humans. If a leprechaun knew you were watching him, he
a    would try to trick you into turning away. Once you turned, even
for a second, the leprechaun would disappear. But as long as
you kept him in sight, he had to stay where he was.
=Tom had also heard that leprechauns always had a treasure
hidden away. =Tom thought, "If I am clever, I can find out where
his gold is. I will be rich, and I will buy a farm of my own." Tom watched the leprechaun
hammering away. Then he
said in a quiet voice, "How is your work going, neighbor?" "Very well, thank you," said the
leprechaun. "Why are you working on a holiday?" =Tom asked. "That is none of your business,"
the leprechaun replied. "What is in that jug?" =Tom said. "Magic brew," said the leprechaun.
"What is it made of?" asked =Tom. "Heather," the leprechaun replied.




When =Elizabeth was a beautiful princess, she lived in a castle and had expensive princess
clothes. She was going to marry a prince named =Ronald.
Unfortunately, a dragon smashed her castle, burned all her clothes with his fiery breath, and
carried off Prince =Ronald.
=Elizabeth decided to chase the dragon and get =Ronald back. She looked all over for something
to wear, but the only thing she could find that was not burned was a paper bag. So she put on the
paper bag and followed the dragon. He was easy to follow because he left a trail of burned forests
and horses' teeth.
Finally, =Elizabeth came to a cave with a large. door that had a huge knocker on it. She took hold
of the knocker and banged on the door.
The dragon stuck his nose out the door and said, "Well, a princess! I love to eat princesses, but I
have already eaten a whole castle today. I am a very busy dragon. Come back tomorrow." He
slammed the door so fast that =Elizabeth almost got her nose caught.
=Elizabeth grabbed the knocker and banged on the door again. The dragon stuck his nose out the
door and said, "Go away. I love to eat princesses, but I have already eaten a whole castle today. I
am a very busy dragon. Come back tomorrow."
"Wait," shouted =Elizabeth. "Is it true that you are the smartest and fiercest dragon in the whole
world?"
"Yes," said the dragon.
"Is it true," said =Elizabeth, "that you can burn up ten forests with your fiery breath?"

=Jonathan's father looked at the bear tracks in the snow. His uncles looked at them, too.
"So!" they said "So!"
And the uncles went off into the woods with their guns.
"You and I must go home, =Jonathan," said his father. "Your mother is worrying herself sick.
You have been a mighty long time coming over =Hemlock Mountain."
"Yes, Pop," said =Jonathan, and he hung his head.
"But what kept you so long?" asked his father. They were going down the mountain, now, and
=Jonathan's father was carrying the big iron pot.
"Well," said Jonathan. "First I ate cookies, then I drank milk, then I slept. .."
"Hm," said his father. "It is not the way to do when you are sent on an errand. But I guess you
have learned that by this time."
It was very still on =Hemlock Mountain. There was only the crunch, crunch of boots on the
snow. A squirrel scampered to a tree. He sat looking at =Jonathan and his father, his paws on his
heart. "I know what I know!" he seemed to say.
Crack! What was that? A shot in the woods? Or a branch snapping? The squirrel, frightened,
scampered higher up in the tree.
"Oh!" said =Jonathan.
"Something tells me," his father said. "Something tells me we shall have bear steak for dinner!"
They kept on down the mountain. The birds twittered in the trees: "We know what we know."
"The birds and the squirrels and the rabbits helped me," =Jonathan said. "They are my friends."
"How could they help you?" asked his father. "They are so little."
"Well     said =Jonathan. But now they were near the grey stone farmhouse and there was no time
to explain.

They crossed ditches and a bog. They climbed over fences. At last they came to a field of
ragweed.
The leprechaun pointed to one of the weeds. "Dig under that one," he said. "And now you don't
need me anymore, do you?"
Tom laughed loudly. "No, I don't," he said. He put the leprechaun down.
"Good-bye," said the leprechaun. "And may what you find be your just reward." The leprechaun
jumped behind a ragweed and was gone.
=Tom could not wait to dig. But he had nothing to dig with. He had to go home and get a spade.
But how would he know the right ragweed when he returned?
"This will do nicely," he said to himself. He took off one of his red garters and tied it on the
ragweed.
Then =Tom ran home and came back with a spade. But when he reached the field, he did not
know which way to turn. There was ragweed everywhere. And each and every plant had a red
garter tied on it. =Tom could not tell which garter was his. The leprechaun had tricked him after
all.


.

=Wilbur patted =TG on the shoulder. "Don't worry," he said. "=Patty will find =Popcorn.
Remember? She can see everything through her magic glasses. Isn't that right, =Patty?"
"How would you like to swing on a star?" asked Patty.
"Come on, =Patty," said =TG. "You said your glasses were magic. Now prove it."
"Did I say I couldn't find =Popcorn?" asked =Patty. "Did I say that?"
"No," said =TG.
"No," said =Annie.
"Not yet," said =Wilbur.
"So what's all the fuss about? I will find Popcorn for you. I promise. But first, I must ask myself a
magical question."
"What question?" asked =T.G.
=Patty stared through her glasses. "The question is this," she said. "If I were a canary, where
would I hide?"
"That's a great question," said =Annie.
"We don't need great questions," complained =Wilbur. "We need great answers."
"I know where I would hide," said =TG. "I would hide in a closet."
"Canaries can't open closet doors," sniffed =Annie.
"I meant an open closet," said =TG.
"We'll see," said =Patty. She opened a closet and looked inside.
"Hey!" said =Annie. "Aren't those my skates? I thought you said you gave them back! "
"What's this!" yelled =Wilbur. "My =SuperHero comic books! I thought you said you gave them
back!"
"Is that my butterfly net?" asked =TG. "I thought you said you gave it back!"
"My magic tells me this is the wrong place to look," said
=Patty. She slammed the closet door.
I whispered =Annie. "Listen!" They listened. This is what they heard:



The canoe was brand new and the birch-bark still rosy tan. The seams were payed in spruce gum.
The =Chippewa boy who paddled loved the smell of the spruce, the cedar planking, and the new
bark. It was an exciting smell, the smell of his own canoe. He paddled well for a small boy. His
canoe darted in and out among the reeds and roots and water lilies at the edge of the lake.
=Ashtun," he called to his mother watching on the bank, "shall I bring you a white flower?"
=Ls mother looked anxious. Be careful. Don't tip, " she warned.
The little boy paddled close to the lovely white flowers scattered over the water and leaned to
pull one up. It clung hard to the bottom. He pulled and pulled, but the slippery flower held. One
good yank. Out came the water lily, and in went the boy.
He held his prize as his mother dried his wet body. His nose was bright yellow from sniffing its
heart.
I picked a star for you, " he said. "How did a star grow on the water? Where did it come from?"
His mother told him while the summer sun dried his long black hair.



One warm Sunday a few weeks later, =Pettranella put on a clean pinafore and her best
sun-bonnet. She went to help her father hitch up the ox, for this was the day they were going to
visit their neighbors.
As the ox cart bumped and bounced down the trail over which they had come so many weeks
before, =Pettranella thought about the little girl they were going to visit. She will probably be my
very best friend, she thought to herself.
Suddenly her father stopped the cart and jumped down. "There's the rock where we broke the
shaft," he said. "This time I will lead the ox around it."
"There's where we had lunch that day," said her mother.
"And there's the log I was sitting on when I lost the seeds,"

said =Pettranella. "And look! LOOK AT ALL THOSE FLOWERS!"
There they were. Blowing gently in the breeze, their bright faces turned to the sun and their roots
firm in the =Canadian soil =Grandmother's flowers.
"Oh! Oh! " cried =Pettranella, "I have never seen such beautiful flowers!"
Her mother's eyes were shining as she looked at them. "Just like the ones that grew in the
countryside back home!" she exclaimed.
"You can plant them beside our house," said her father, "and make a flower garden there."

=Pettranella did. She tended it carefully, and so her promise to her grandmother was not broken
after all.
But she left some to grow beside the trail, that other settlers might see them and not feel lonely.
To this very day, =Pettranella's flowers bloom each year beside a country road but  in the end, of
course, she did.


When they were ready to leave, her grandmother gave her a small muslin bag. =Pettranella
opened it and looked inside. "There are seeds in here!" she exclaimed.
"There is a garden in there," said the old lady. "Those are flower seeds to plant when you get to
your new home."
"Oh, I will take such good care of them," promised =Pettranella. "And I will plant them and make
a beautiful garden for you."
So they left their homeland. It was sad, thought =Pettranella, but it was exciting, too. Sad to say
good-bye to everyone they knew and exciting to be going across the ocean in a big ship.
At last they reached the shores of =NorthAmerica. As they stood at the rail waiting to leave the
ship, she asked, "Can we see our homestead yet?"
Not yet, they told her. There was still a long way to go.
After many days, they came to a settlement where two rivers met. There they camped while the
father got his homestead papers. Then they bought some things they would need:
an axe and a saw
a hammer and nails sacks of food and seed
a plough and a cow and a strong brown ox a cart with two large wooden wheels some chickens
The ox was hitched to the cart. It was so full of all their belongings that there was barely room
for =Pettranella and her mother. Her father walked beside the ox, and the cow followed.
The wooden wheels creaked over the bumpy ground. At first . =Pettranella thought it was fun.
Soon she began asking, "When are we going to get there?" and making rather a nuisance of
herself climbing in and out of the cart.
Now one dark night in the fall of the year,
Tabitha woke with a start to hear
A scritching, scratching kind of sound.
"What's that?" she thought. "There's no one around To make a noise that sounds like that."
=TabithaTwitchell, sleek and fat, Stretched and yawned and opened her eyes. Then the Persian
cat had quite a surprise.

There in a corner of the hall
Peeking out of a hole in the wall
She saw two ears, two eyes, and a nose In a furry face. "Now I suppose This creature has come to
visit me," Thought =TabithaTwitchell, calm as can be.

"Hello," she mewed. "Have you come to play? I'd rather you waited till break of day. I'm sleepy
now and I need my rest. Come back tomorrow, that will be best." The visitor blinked and looked
at the cat. "My whiskers!" he thought. "Just look at that! I do believe that the cat in this house
Has never before seen a country mouse."


He didn't seem to understand how scared she felt. How she wished she had stayed home!
The door opened again, and the conductor entered the car. He was covered with snow. "We're
stuck," he said. "The engine can't move. Too much snow has drifted onto the tracks ahead. We'll
have to stay here until help comes."
"Did you hear that, =Anna?" =Grandpa almost bounced up and down in his seat. "We're stuck!
Stuck and stranded on the =ThirdAvenueEl! What do you think about that!"
When =Anna heard the news, she grew even more frightened. "=Mama will be so worried. She
doesn't know where we are."
"She knows you are with me," =Grandpa said cheerfully. "That's all she needs to know." He
leaned forward again. "We might as well get acquainted," he said. "My name is =ErikJensen, and
this is my granddaughter, =Anna."
The woman in the seat ahead turned around. "=JosieSweeney," she said. "Pleased to meet you."
The sign was marked =BEGINNERS'TRAIL.
"Are we going up there?" =Brendan asked, squinting at the mountain that rose above the forest
ahead. At the top was a great brow of rock, sprinkled with dark, stunted trees.
His cousin =Nora nodded.
"Not me," said =Brendan. "I don't want to."
"Don't be scared. It's easy," =Nora coaxed. "See, the sign says
it's for beginners. People go up all the time. It's really great!" "I'm not scared," =Brendan
mumbled, looking at his feet. "I just
don't want to."
"What a baby," =Nora said to herself. =Brendan was four years younger than =Nora, but she
thought he acted even younger. He had come with Aunt =Barbara for the weekend, and =Nora
was supposed to entertain him.
=Nora had wanted to rock on the cool farmhouse porch and listen to the women talk. Instead,
=Mother had packed a lunch and told her to take her cousin on a picnic.

The =MainJohn found that horse-trader around at the back of the barn. He was sitting on a keg of
nails, smoking a pipe and waiting.
I want a horse," said the =MainJohn. "And the horse I want the most is the mare in the barn."
"Maybe she's for sale and maybe she isn't," said the horse-trader, slow and easy-like. He was
figuring g to himself that this was the time to make his fortune.
"She's for sale," said the =MainJohn. He looked the horse-trader right in the eye, and the
horse-trader sort of quivered and shook a bit. "She's for sale," said the =MainJohn again, "isn't
she?"
And the horse-trader nodded his head and said, "She's for sale, right enough."
And that was how the =MainJohn bought =BonnieDoone, without so much as asking the price.
He knew as soon as he heard her neigh and took one look at her that she was the fastest horse in
the world.


Cleaning up is BORING!" That's what everybody in the =Gunger family kept saying over and
over again. Mr and Mrs =Gunger said it, and their children, =Jerry and =Annie, said it: "Cleaning
up is BORING and I'm not going to do it!"
The =Gunger family was very busy. When =JerryGunger wasn't at school, he was busy playing
with his pets- an iguana, a guinea pig, a rabbit, five mice, and a garter snake.
The only animal =AnnieGunger was interested in was the rabbit. She intended to be a magician
and kept begging =Jerry to let her pull the rabbit out of a hat. =Jerry wouldn't let her, but =Annie
was busy enough practicing all her other tricks.
Mr =Gunger was a successful painter. He was busy mixing paints and working on one canvas
after another. So, although he worked at home, Mr =Gunger never had time to worry about what
the house looked like.
Mrs =Gunger, an electronics expert, worked for a company which was developing a series of
robots. When she came home from work, she was much too tired to do housework. Besides, she
was busy checking over plans and trying to figure out what had gone wrong with the robot tests
that day.
Busy, busy, busy. Everyone in the =Gunger family was always busy doing something interesting.
=Grandmother =Lance, who was a very tidy person, got very upset whenever she came to visit.
She said the =Gunger family was busy all right  busy making a MESS!
Mrs =Gunger scattered her papers all over the house. Mr =Gunger dropped paint, smeared paint,
and spread out canvases to dry all over the house. =Jerry's animals were usually locked up in
cages, but he often forgot to clean them and their smell was all over the house.
Annie was the only one who was careful about her things.

She wasn't going to leave her magic tricks scattered around so.

On July =1, =2121, =RebeccaJasons was nine years old.
The apartment-city loudspeakers sang happy birthday to her.
Happy birthday from your city, May your day be full of glitter. Just be sure your door is bolted,
Curb your dog, pick up your litter.
=Rebecca made a face at the loudspeaker over her bed. She didn't even have a dog. It just went to
prove that the city didn't know everything. The speakers sang that song to everyone who had a
birthday on July =1  boys and girls, men and women, and any aliens who lived in =Bosyork. That
was the biggest metroplex on the east coast of =NorthAmerica.
But =Rebecca smiled anyway. She sat up and counted the presents at the foot of her bed. There
were three big boxes. She hoped that in one of them was the present she really wanted.
The first present she opened was from her mother. It was a solar-powered cycle.
"Bother," said =Rebecca. Her mother was a machine nut. Their apartment was already full of
motorized things. A solar cycle was not what =Rebecca wanted. There was very little direct sun
in the city. And, besides, =Rebecca preferred walking.
The second present she opened was from her father. It was a doll that burped, said "Excuse me,"
had nightmares, and cried itself to sleep.
"Double bother," said =Rebecca. Her father had this thing about dolls. He gave them to
everybody. Well, =Rebecca had a thing about dolls, too. She didn't like them. She would let her
brother =Adam have this one. He collected dolls. He had shelves and shelves and shelves of
them, from the oldest doll that could only say "=Mama" to the very latest model. He said he was
going to be a father when he grew up.
She had saved her grandmother's present for last.


=Kim took =Robot to school for the first time. =Robot had dressed warmly. A neck scarf. and a
knee scarf were wrapped around =Robot's joints so they wouldn't stiffen up and make it hard to
move.
=Robot followed =Kim into the classroom. The teacher welcomed =Robot to the class. She said
she was delighted to have =Robot visit. The children in the class were pleased too. Some of them
pressed =Robot's buttons to see what would happen. Other children stared at =Robot's lights and
screws.
=Robot was very popular in the room. Several children worked with =Robot, building a model.
=Robot was very good at this sort of thing. =Robot also listened while some of the children read
a story. =Robot enjoyed the story; it was about a mechanical person.
When it was time for math, =Robot was especially pleased. Figuring out problems and playing
with numbers were =Robot's favorite activities. "I can do very hard problems," said =Robot.
"Give me a problem and I can flash the answer for everyone to see. I'll show you."
Everyone thought that was a good idea.
"Who can estimate how many peanuts are in this jar?" the teacher asked. Lots of hands shot up in
the air. "Let's give =Robot a chance to answer first," she said.
=Robot studied the problem carefully. It seemed easy enough. "Estimating is fun to do; you don't
have to be exactly right," thought =Robot. "It's okay to be almost right."
Everyone looked at =Robot. Lights flashed, and there was a whirring sound. Robot flashed the
answer.
The teacher looked amazed. The children moaned.
"Oh, no," said one boy, "that's a terrible answer. =Robot is way off. Doesn't =Robot know how to
estimate? I thought =Robot was so good at numbers."
=Robot looked surprised too.



"Oh, wait a minute," said my father, "and I'll give you just the things you need to make your
mane all tidy and beautiful. I have them here in my pack."
"You do?" said the lion. "Well, give them to me. Perhaps I'll save you for afternoon tea after all,"
and he put my father down on the ground.
My father opened the pack and took out a comb and brush and seven hair ribbons of different
colors. "Look," he said, "I'll show, you what to do on your forelock, where you can watch me.
First you brush a while, and then you comb. Then you brush again until all the twigs and snarls
are gone. Then you divide it up in three and braid it like this and tie a ribbon around the end."
As my father was doing this, the lion watched very carefully. He began to look much happier.
When my father tied on the ribbon, he was all smiles. "Oh, that's wonderful, really wonderful!"
said the lion. "Let me have the comb and brush and see if I can do it." So my father gave him the
comb and brush, and the lion began busily grooming his mane. As a matter of fact, he was so
busy that he didn't even know when my father left.


They do have four feet," cried =Engatuny. "Their front feet are just beginning to grow." And she
pointed to the little wings on the nearest chick.
"You are right," said =Jackal. "I hadn't noticed them. But they do have four feet. I say they are the
children of the lioness."
And so it went. Each animal thought of some stupid reason to say that the chicks were baby lions.
At last the mongoose came forward.
=Wildebeest asked, "And what do you have to say, =Mongoose?"
"All of you listen to me," cried the mongoose. "Has it ever happened that furry animals had
feathered children? Of course the chicks are the children of the ostrich!" Then he dived down the
hole under the anthill.
=Engatuny bounded after him. She crouched beside the hole and waited for him to come out. But
the mongoose had escaped through the exit on the other side. The lioness waited and waited. She
dared not leave because she thought if she went away, the mongoose would escape.
As the lioness waited beside the hole, all the animals slipped away. And =E-sidai quietly rounded
up her chicks and took them home.

&&000