It takes more than nine bloomers to make a man.
[Illustration: The Ambitious Hippopotamus.]
The Man and the Serpent.
A man, who had lived a beautiful purple life, went to sleep under a tree in
the forest. Jove sent a huge serpent to destroy him. The man awakened as
the reptile drew near.
"What a horrid sight!" he said. "But let us be thankful that the
pink-and-green elephant and the feathered hippopotamus are not also in
evidence."
And he took a dose of bromide and commended himself again to sleep, while
the serpent withdrew in some confusion.