am not ready yet wait a little keep very still all you three if you move i strike and if you do not move i strike oh foolish people who killed my s eyes were fixed on his father and all his father could do was to whisper sit still you mustn t move keep still then came up and cried turn round turn and fight all in good time said she without moving her eyes i will settle my account with you presently look at your friends they are still and white they are afraid they dare not move and if you come a step nearer i strike look at your eggs said in the bed near the wall go and look the big snake turned half round and saw the egg on the ah h give it to me she said put his one on each side of the � and his eyes were blood red what price for a snake s egg for a young for a young king for the last � the very last of the brood the are eating all the others down by the bed z the book spun clear round forgetting everything for the sake of the one egg and saw s father shoot out a big hand catch by the shoulder and drag him across the little table with the tea cups safe and out of reach of i chuckled the boy is safe and it was i � i � i that caught by the hood last night in the bath room then he began to jump up and down all four feet together his head close to the floor he threw me to and fro but he could not shake me off he was dead before the big man blew him in two i did it come then come and fight with me you shall not be a widow long saw that she had lost her chance of killing and the egg lay between s give me the egg give me the last of my eggs and i will go away and never come back she said lowering her hood yes you will go away and you will never come back for you will go to the with fight widow the big man has gone for his gun fight was bounding all round keeping just out of reach of her stroke his little eyes like hot coals gathered herself together and flung out at him jumped up and backwards again and again and again she struck and each time her head came with a on the of the and she gathered herself together like a watch spring then danced in a circle to get behind her and spun round to keep her head to his head so that the rustle of her tail on the sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind he had f r the egg it still on the and came and nearer to it till at last while k li was grass breath she caught it in her mouth turned to the steps and flew like arrow down the path behind her when the runs for her life she goes like a whip lash across a horse s neck ra knew that he must catch her or behind all would begin again she headed straight for the long by the thorn bush and as he was running � heard still singing his foolish song of triumph but s wife was the book wiser she flew off her nest as came along and her wings about s head if had helped they might have turned her but only lowered her hood and went on still the instant s delay brought up to her and as she plunged into the rat hole where she and used to live his little white teeth were clenched on her tail and he went down with her � and very few however wise and old they may be care to follow a into its hole it was dark in the hole and never knew when it might open out and give room to turn and strike at him he held on savagely and stuck out his feet to act as on the dark slope of the hot moist earth then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving and said it is all over with we must sing his is dead for will surely kill him so he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute and just as he got to the most touching part the grass quivered again and covered with dirt dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg his whiskers stopped with a little shout shook some of the dust out of his fur and it is all over he said the widow will never come out again and the red that live between the grass stems heard him and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth curled himself up in the grass and slept where he was � slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon for he had done a hard day s work now he said when he awoke i will go back to the house tell the and he will tell the garden that is dead the is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating of a little hammer on a copper pot and the reason he is always making it is because he is the town to every indian garden and tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen as went up the path he heard his attention notes like a tiny dinner and then the steady i is dead � is dead i that iso the book set all the birds in the garden singing and the for and used to eat as well 