"'I don't see why I should work all the time, and others have nothing whatever to do,' said lazy Mr. Horse, one day. 'I would like to live a life of idleness as well as they.'

"Then he began to think it over, and decided to find some way to get rid of hauling the farm wagon day after day. It wasn't easy to do this, but after a time he hit upon a plan which seemed to be a good one. "'I'll make believe that I am sick,' he said, 'and then my master won't call on me for work.'

"So he hung his head, leaned against the side of the stall, and tried to look as if it hurt him to breathe. When his master came into the stable, he said:

"'Hello, what can be the matter with this horse? He was well when I fed him yesterday; but now he seems to be nearly dead.'

"Then the master went out of the stable, and Mr. Horse said to himself with a grin:

"'He has gone to get some medicine for me! The plan seems to be working well.'

"Soon the master came back, and with him was a great big black man, who carried an axe over his shoulder.

"'That horse is very sick,' said the master.

"'He certainly is,' replied the man with the axe.

Mr. Horse is Well Pleased

"'And there's only one thing to be done,' said the master.

"'Only one thing,' added the man with the axe.

"'Well, Jim,' said the master, 'hit him squarely between the eyes, and as hard as you can, for I don't want him flopping all around the place before he dies.'

"'All right, sir,' answered the man, as he raised the axe.

"By that time Mr. Horse began to suspect that his plan wasn't working as he thought it would, so he pricked up his ears, kicked up his heels, and tried to look as if there never had been anything the matter with him.

"'That horse has gone crazy,' the master cried.

"'He has indeed,' replied the man with the axe.

"'We'll have to kill him anyway,' said the master. 'Hit him quick before he tears down the stable!'

"The man with the axe hit Mr. Horse one blow, and that settled the question, of his ever hauling the farm-wagon again. Surely he made a fool of himself while trying to deceive others, and if the Goose family had been punished as hard, there wouldn't be one of us alive to-day."

"What do you mean by that?" your Aunt Amy asked in surprise, and Mrs. Gray Goose replied softly, as if afraid others might hear her words: