06

THE SNAIL

II

1. The ducks and the blackbirds and thrushes are not our only enemies. Old Robert, the gardener, does not like us, and he tries to crush us with his heavy boots.

2. We do not fear him much, for we can easily keep out of his way. His eyes are so dim that he cannot see us in our snug home under the ivy.

3. He is angry with us because we eat the best and sweetest leaves in the garden. Perhaps he thinks that withered leaves are good enough for snails, but we do not think so; we like the green ones best.

4. When rain falls, it makes the leaves fresh and juicy. What a feast we have then! We climb up on a leaf, and rasp off little bits of it withour teeth.

5. Did you know that snails have teeth? They have a great many more teeth than you have.You have only two rows of teeth, and none of them are on your tongue.

6. Now all my teeth are on my tongue. It is covered all over with rows of teeth just like a fil . There are more than a hundred rows, and more than a hundred teeth in each row.

7. You may think that my mouth must be very large to hold such a number of teeth; but it is not. My teeth are very, very small, so small that you could not see them. Big teeth would be of no use to me; to cut into the leaves my teeth must be small and sharp.

8. What do you suppose I eat in winter, when all the leaves are withered and the ground is bare? You could never guess. I eat nothing at all!

9. I creep into a hole when the weather becomes cold, and I make a little door for my house, which keeps out the wind and rain and snow. I leave just one tiny hole to let in air.There I sleep cosy and warm till spring comes, and the fresh juicy leaves are ready for me to eat.

10. I could tell you many other things about myself, but I hear the birds talking, and I must hide.Have I not told you enough to let you know what a wonderful creature even a snail is?

11. Good-bye, my boy.You have listened very well to my story, and I think you will not hurt the next snail you see. When you go to the seaside in autumn , you will meet some friends of mine among the rocks.Try to get one of them to tell you his story also.

WORD SPELLING

WORD EXERCISE

GRAMMAR EXERCISE

l. Make a list of the fi rst six verbs in the lesson.

2. Make sentences with the last four nouns as subject.