Show date evenin MAW ORHAM j i i i r AN ODD ANIMAL had had an excellent meal he was smacking his lips and anyone could have seen that his mouth was could not have taken in much at a time but the ants knew it was quite big enough for them and they knew how his front claws could tear open old logs where insects liked to live and how bis claws could dig up the ant hills his name was the great ant eater and he was well named indeed the ants knew that when any of my family have been captured he said we are fed on milk ground meat and eggs but we prefer ants and insects and delicious little meals of that sort isow the great ant eater was talking to an ant hill he was standing at one side addressing the attle ants who looked very nervous 1 I knon you like to hear talk he went on and the ants admitted that they did they would much rather have heard him talk than to have had him eating all the time he had been visiting an old log and they knew he had had all he wanted for the time being but his appetite was likely to be with him again any moment 1 I hae no teeth he continued and the little ants looked very much pleased but that makes no difference be went on and the ants looked sad it simply means that instead ot eating things that have to be chewed and digested I 1 eat soft crawling things just like you dear little ants the poor ants grew very nervous again when mr great ant eater began to talk about citing and called them dear little ants it made them worry that sounded too much like an meal and they did not want to see him eat another meal for it dear little ants would mean that they would be taken into his funny little slit of a mouth it looked like the smallest of mouths to be sure but it could hold plenty ol 01 them they knew chati and his claws would soon start dig ging them out of the bill where they lived darling ants he said what would I 1 do without you we could do without you sald one brave little ant that that asked the ant eater dear me I 1 will have to reward a bright little ant such as you thereupon he opened his mouth and took the little ant upon his tongue was the end of that llyde ant ane oth ars kept very quiet well said the great ant cater that was a delicious little appetizer and that means that it just gave me an appetite for more I 1 enjoyed that wee taste very much but I 1 will hae to have more I 1 tried this hotel lately he said this as he went to a corner of the ant hill and gazed at a number of ants going this way and that and he said it just as though he would be a welcome guest who would pay large prices for his food ah said the ant eater as he ant after ant what does it matter if I 1 am toothless they often eay it Is bard to be without teeth but what care I 1 1 I can always have soft food the kind I 1 like isor am I 1 helpless 1 I can use my claws for carving and digging and marketing and my toothless jaws do the rest As lie ant eater boasted of his splendid powers of eating he lived up to his remarks by eating all of the guests of the hotel lie found another corner and began again but after a time he had had enough of ants and went to a jog to rest there he dreamed of ants to him it was a delightful dream 1 |