Tales out of school

It is not generally considered proper to tell tales out of school, but I shall venture it in this book. And if any of the Arabs, or tigers, or Cabordmen, that I tell tales about...

But the sword was short, and the boar was very close to the horse, who snorted and plunged so that the Major could scarcely keep his seat, much less get a fair crack at the boar.

There are no opossums now just like this one. This species lived before the flood; and is, therefore, antediluvian. The animal in the picture was never hunted by men and dogs, b...

No doubt, after their hard work is done, they have fine fun at their parties, and merry-makings. Whether they have “town meetings,” and public lectures, and parades, I know not....

Before he found out what these taps really meant Moriyama returned to town. Tom greeted him heartily enough, and as they went into the house together that morning the porter str...

Sybil went over these things in her mind as she watched the battle, trying, in vain, to distinguish the form of her brother. She soon saw to her dismay, that the Infidel forces...

The sea-cow has a thick skin, and a layer of fat under it to keep it warm. The arm-like fins are terminated by curious appendages like fingers, except they are united by a sort...

But these men expected all sorts of strange experiences, and so this did not frighten them, and the nearer they came to the moon, the more effect her gravity had upon them, and...

This wonderful tree bore the name of Ygdrasil. Its branches overshadowed the whole world; its top supported the sky, and its roots went so far down that no one could find the en...

There is another Plane tree in the island of Cos, which is almost as well known as that of Smyrna. Its spreading branches cover the whole of a large square of a city, and are so...

Now a gnome is as small a being as a dwarf, and his home is under the ground, so that he seldom sees the light of day. Consequently he is not as bright and quick-witted as a dwa...

Even the sick Arab turned his dim eyes thither, and his feeble lips uttered a faint cry of joy. The sight so revived him that he was able, lying on a camel’s back, to go with th...

It was on Polargno’s sixteenth birth-day that he had his adventure with the fox. It was mid-winter, and consequently midnight—that is the middle of the six months’ night—the sev...

You may wonder how the sailor and the bear got off on this ice-floe together; as you, no doubt, feel sure they did not make an appointment to meet there. The sailor told how he...

This was the last serious adventure that befell Mr. Reed. He met with some mishaps, but these he did not mind, and soon forgot them after his return to Cape Town, where he had t...

His parents were willing he should climb even the tallest trees; and they were quite proud at the gymnasium to see him run lightly up the long ladders, and across the open frame...

He principally painted signs and portraits. He did not paint many portraits, because the people had but little time to sit for them, but he painted a good many signs on barns an...