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18 and try to scramble down. In his ma noeuvres to get the bucket up, he had, in cautiously, not looked after his tail; but had whisked it into the cage, and Poll thought that “ his extremity was her opportunity.” So she flew at it and seized it in her strong beak, and setting herself hard against the cage, by clutching one of its stout upright bars in her talons, she pulled away with a will on Jocko’s unhappy tale. You may be sure, he tried to get down. But he was fast. lie had an arm through the ring on the cage, and could not draw it out without changing his position— and he could not change his position with out pulling Poll out of the cage, or get ting his tail out of her mouth, or else pulling it off altogether. Two of these things he could not do, and the last he did not want to do, because he preferred being an African monkey, to being an African man. The tail made the differ ence, in his estimation, and the difference was in his favor. So what could Jocko do? You ought to have seen him—how he grinned and made faces, and pulled gently, and then howled as Poll nipped a little tighter, and finally he went to downright begging. “Oh! Miss Polly,” he said in monkey language, which Poll understood very -.am so sorry to have made you angry.” Poll could only mutter through her clenched beak—“ Play, indeed! You told me I was dirty, and you would wash me.” “ Yes ; but I was mistaken. Since I see you from this j>oint of view, I think you the handsomest lady I ever saw; and your parlor is a very palace!” “Flattery!” said Poll; though sho loosened her grip a little, after this com pliment. “Hot at all. Since I have got a better view of you, you have taken a very strong hold upon my affections.” “ Tail, you mean,” cried Poll, «or are your affections in your tail ?” | “ Pray, madam, do not tantalize me.— You certainly have a powerful grasp up jj)n any subject that enters your head. I ■think, however, that in this case you are pFather sharp on your poor adversary.” “ Oh,” sho answered, “ this is an ex treme case; and I have taken it into my head to settle it. Say, do you want your tail or not ?” “Want it!” said Jocko, “'of course 1 do, or how shall it bo known I am not a man ! To settle it, is just what I want! Let me hear your terms.” And Poll stated her terms. We have not room here for all she demanded. But BXJRKE’S WEEKLY. he had to take an oath every morning for the next thirty days, that she was the greatest and most honorable, and most obliging and most generous parrot, that ever lived; or would ever live, and that he had always respected her, and would hereafter think only what she al lowed him to think, and say only what she permitted him to say. (And he swore.) And he became very submissive, and she grew very tyrannical, until at last Jocko told me, that he might just as well have parted with his tail at once ; and I con soled him, by telling him that I ivould write a tale of the parrot and the mon key’s tail, and that I would put his pic ture in with it, “To point the moral and adorn the tale.” THE WHISPERING FAIRY. Once on a time in the spring of the year, When the roses were red and the lilies were fair, Down in a dell where a rivulet purled, A pretty young Fairy came into the world. Before her wings grew sho did nothing but pla^ And frolic among the sweet flowers all day, Or lie on the grass and look up at the trees As gaily they sported and danced in the breeze, And watch the white clouds that to her seemed so nigh, She thought the tall pines that waved proudly on high Had brushed away some of the blue from the sky. In a lily she gently was rocked to repose, And in fresh morning dew she was bathed in the rose, She danced in the moonlight, and certainly she Was as happy as any young Fairy could be — But at length her wings grew, to the king she was brought, And all that a Fairy should do she was taught, The invisible mantle was over her thrown, And into the world she went forth all alone. The king told her to watch little children all day And when they were going to do or to say Anything cruel or wrong, she must go To their ear and say softly—“ Please do not do so.” If you listen, dear children, I’m sure you will hear The Fairy’s voice whispering close to your ear. The next time yon go to do anything wrong Please promise to stop them and think of my song. E. P. M. Clarksville , Georgia. following enigma is said to have been written by Mr. Canning, which for a time baffled the skill of England to solve: There is a word of plural number, A foe to peace and human slumber, Now, any word you chance to take By adding S you plural make ; But if you add an S to this, How strange is the metamorphosis ! Plural is plural then no more, And sweet what bitter was before. Solution. —The word is cares, to which, by adding S, you have caress. S@r*Never chew your words. Open the mouth and let the voice come out. A student once asked, “ Can virckue, forti chude, gratichude, or quiechude dwell with that man who is a stranger to recti chude?” • A little girl, on making her first vis it to a pig-sty, exclaimed, “Why, grand pa, I should think the pigs would faint away—they smell so !” THE LITTLE WOMAN IN GREEN. A FAIRY TALE. BY MRS. THEODOSIA FORD. (concluded.) fP O ELLIE went with the Queen into the great hall of the palace, where the little fairies were dancing, for in honor of Elbe the fairies gave a ball that night. It w T a3 not often that the Queen could find a mortal maiden, who was as good and true as she was beautiful ; and when sho did, there was great rejoicing in the court. I do not know how I shall tell you of all the beautiful things Elbe saw in the wonderful palace, but this I know, that all the treasures of Fairyland were dis played that night. The room was hung with garlands of most exquisite flowers, and the red roses were rubies and the yel low roses were topaz, and the white roses were of opals, and the green leaves wero of emerald, and so wonderfully were they wrought, that, although by the Queen’s order, real roses from her own garden were mixed in the garlands, it was impossible to distinguish the one from the other. The room was lighted by a diamond many times larger than the “ Koh-i-noor,” and the light which it gave was more brilliant than the light of the sun, or of the moon. In the banqueting hall a table was spread, and oh, of what dainties ! Such wonderful pyramids of pure candy, such jellies and custards and trifles; such oranges and confections of all kinds, had never been seen before, even in Fairy land, for Elbe was a guest whom the Queen delighted to honor. All the young gentlemen and young lady fairies were in their richest dresses of green, for that is the Queen’s color, and of course the Court dress—and when the Queen and Elbe came into the room, all the ladies rose, and curtsied down to the ground, and every gentleman bent his right knee and laid his hand to his heart, for that is the way in Fairyland in which to do homage to their Queen. Then the Queen’s son asked Elbe to dance, but Elbe felt a little strange, and besides had only her thick shoes on, and preferred to stay by the side of the beau tiful Queen, and look at the others dance; and then the Poet-laureato wrote a song expressly for the occasion, and these lines were in it: “ Mortal maiden, full of grace, i rue of heart as fair of face, ror the poor and suffering caring, lor the weak the burden bearing, Ihus wo meet you, Thus wo greet you, Thus upon your brow wo trace loken of tkia fairy • place,”