"the-beginning-of-the-armadilloes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kipling Rudyard)

Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-Solid Tortoise
sitting under the trunk of a fallen tree. They could not run away, and
so Stickly-Prickly curled himself up into a ball, because he was a
Hedgehog, and Slow-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his
shell as far as they would go, because he was a Tortoise; and so
оthatп was all right, Best Beloved. Do you see?
'Now attend to me,' said Painted Jaguar, 'because this is very
important. My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him
into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I
am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now which of you is
Hedgehog and which is Tortoise? because, to save my spots I can't
tell.'
'Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?' said Stickly-Prickly
Hedgehog. 'Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you
uncoil. a Tortoise you must shell him out of the water with a scoop,
and when you paw a Hedgehog you must drop him on the shell.'
'Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?' said Slow-and-Solid
Tortoise. 'Are you quite sure? Perhaps she said that when you water
a Hedgehog you must drop him into your paw, and when you meet a
Tortoise you must shell him till he uncoils.'
'I don't think it was at all like that,' said Painted Jaguar, but he
felt a little puzzled; 'but, please, say it again more distinctly.'
{BEGINNING_OF_ARMADILLOES ^paragraph 10}
'When you scoop water with your paw you uncoil it with a
Hedgehog,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'Remember that, because it's
important.'
о'But,'п said the Tortoise, 'when you paw your meat you drop it into
a Tortoise with a scoop. Why can't you understand?'
'You are making my spots ache,' said Painted Jaguar; 'and besides, I
didn't want your advice at all. I only wanted to know which of you
is Hedgehog and which is Tortoise.'
'I shan't tell you,' said Stickly-Prickly. 'But you can scoop me out
of my shell if you like.'
'Aha!' said Painted Jaguar. 'Now I know you're Tortoise. You thought
I wouldn't! Now I will.' Painted Jaguar darted out his paddy-paw
just as Stickly-Prickly curled himself up, and of course Jaguar's
paddy-paw was just filled with prickles. Worse than that, he knocked
Stickly-Prickly away and away into the woods and the bushes, where
it was too dark to find him. Then he put his paddy-paw into his mouth,
and of course the prickles hurt him worse than ever. As soon as he
could speak he said, 'Now I know he isn't Tortoise at all. But'- and
then he scratched his head with his un-prickly paw- 'how do I know
that this other is Tortoise?'
{BEGINNING_OF_ARMADILLOES ^paragraph 15}
'But I оamп Tortoise,' said Slow-and-Solid. 'Your mother was quite
right. She said that you were to scoop me out of my shell with your
paw. Begin.'
'You didn't say she said that a minute ago,' said Painted Jaguar,
sucking the prickles out of his paddy-paw. 'You said she said
something quite different.'