LESSON XII.

OBSERVATION.

Der ́vise, a Turkish monk.

Ca'di, a judge in civil affairs among the Turks.

Sôr'çer er, a conjurer; a magician.

Am'ple, abundant.

A

Ob'şer va'tion, the act or power of taking notice. Herb ́age, grass and herbs.

Grazed, fed, as cattle do.

Tuft, a collection or bunch.

DERVISE was journeying alone in a desert, when two merchants suddenly met him. have lost a camel," said he to the merchants.

we have," they replied.

"You "Indeed

2. "Was he not blind in his right eye, and lame in his left leg?" said the dervise. "He was," replied the merchants. "And was he not loaded with honey on one side, and with wheat on the other?" "Most certainly he was," they replied; "and, as you have seen him so lately, and marked him so particularly, you can, in all probability, conduct us to him."

3. "My friends," said the dervise, "I have never seen your camel, nor ever heard of him, but from you!" “A pretty story, truly," said the merchants; "but where are the jewels which formed a part of his burden?" "I have seen neither your camel nor your jewels," repeated the dervise.

4. On this, they seized his person, and forthwith hurried him before the cadi; but, on the strictest search, nothing could be found upon him, nor could any evidence whatever be adduced, to convict him either of falsehood or of theft.

5. They were about to proceed against him as a sorcerer, when the dervise with great calmness thus addressed the court:-"I have been much amused with your surprise, and own that there has been some ground for your suspicions; but I have lived long and alone, and I can find ample scope for observation even in a desert.

6. "I knew that I had crossed the track of a camel that had strayed from its owner, because I saw no mark of any human footstep on the same route. I knew that the animal was blind of an eye, because it had cropped the herbage only on one side of its path; and that it was lame in one leg, from the faint impression which that particular foot had produced upon the sand.

7. "I concluded that the animal had lost one tooth, because, wherever it had grazed, a small tuft of herbage had been left uninjured in the center of its bite. As to that which formed the burden of the beast, the busy ants informed me that it was corn on the one side; and the clustering flies, that it was honey on the other." COLTON.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

BYRON.

Robin Hood, a famous English | Syl'van, of or pertaining to a

forest.

Mas quer ade', an assembly of
persons wearing masks, and
amusing themselves with dan-
cing and conversation.

Här'le quin, a clown dressed

in many-colored clothes.

Săck ́eloth, a garment worn in Tran sçend', to surpass; excel.

mourning.

Doff, to put off, as a dress.

C

Som'ber, dark; gloomy.

YAPTAIN of the western wood,
Thou that apest Robin Hood!
Green above thy scarlet hose,
How thy velvet mantle shows!
Never tree like thee arrayed,
Oh, thou gallant of the glade!

2. When the fervid August sun
Scorches all it looks upon,
And the balsam of the pine
Drips from stem to needle fine,
Round thy compact shade arranged,
Not a leaf of thee is changed!

3. When the yellow autumn sun
Saddens all it looks upon,

Spreads its sackcloth on the hills,
Strews its ashes in the rills,

Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff,
And, in limbs of purest buff,
Challengest the somber glade
For a sylvan masquerade.

4. Where, oh! where shall he begin,
Who would paint thee, Harlequin?
With thy waxen burnished leaf,
With thy branches' red relief,
With thy poly-tinted fruit,

In thy spring or autumn suit,
Where begin, and oh! where end,

Thou whose charms all art transcend?

BRET HARTE.

LESSON XIV.

THE ORIGIN OF FIRE.

AN INDIAN MYTH.

Qui chés (Kee-chés), a tribe | Měm'o ra ble, worthy to be

of Indians.

remembered.

Myth ́ie al, fanciful; imaginary. Gäunt, lean, as with hunger.
Ae com ́pliçe, a partner; an

Coy ō'te (ki ō'te), a species

of wolf.

Tra di'tions, things transmitted
by word of mouth from father

to son, or from ancestors to
posterity.

Chär e'ya, an Indian deity.
Super sti'tion, belief in signs,
omens, and mysterious things.

Lär'çe ny, theft.

assistant.

ARIOUS mythical accounts exist among the native races of the Pacific States, regarding the

VA

origin of fire. The Quiches, for instance, believe their fire to have come from a stroke of Tohil's sandal on the earth. Tohil was the great god of the Quiches. To the efforts of the mysterious coyote, again, do some of the ruder tribes believe themselves indebted for this means of warming their bodies and cooking their food. The traditions are valuable as exhibiting the grotesqueness of savage superstition.

2. The Cahrocs of Northern California hold, that when, in the beginning, the creator, Chareya, made fire, he gave it into the custody of two hideous old hags, lest the Cahrocs should steal it. And this is precisely what their firm friend, the coyote, set out to do for their advantage.

3. The cunning brute laid his schemes for the memorable larceny in this wise. From the home of the Cahrocs to the hut of the guardian hags, he stationed, at convenient distances, a long line of animals-the strongest nearest the den of the old witches, the weakest and smallest farthest removed. Lastly he hid an Indian in the neighborhood of the hut, and, having left the man particular directions how to act, trotted up to the cabin door and begged protection from the cold.

4. The hags, suspecting nothing, allowed him to enter; so he stretched his gaunt figure before the fire, and made himself as confortable as possible, waiting for the further action of his human accomplice without. In good time, the man made a furious attack on the beldams' hut, and instantly the two disheveled furies rushed forth to repel the assailant.

5. It was the coyote's opportunity; in an instant he had seized a brand from the fire, in another instant he was in flight. The hags discovered the artifice at once, and gave swift and impetuous chase. Hard had it