"And then he went to Nineveh and told them to be more better, and they did be." And that's all of Jonah. IV THE CARPENTER STORY Once upon a time there was a little boy and he was almost five years old. And there weren't any other children near for him to play with, so he used to play happily all by himself. He had his cat and his cart and his shovel and his hoe, and he always wore his overalls when he was playing. They were building a house in a field near that little boy's house; and, one morning, he had heard the sounds of hammers and of mallets all the time he was at breakfast. So he hurried to get through, and he slipped down from his chair and took off his napkin and he wiped his mouth and he turned to his mother. She was sitting still, smiling because he was in such a hurry. "You seem to be in a good deal of a hurry," she said. "Yes," he said, nodding, "I am. I think I had better go over to the new house." "To see whether the men are doing their work right?" she asked. "You see, I have to help the mortar man," he explained. "Good-bye." "Good-bye, dear," she said. Then she kissed him. "Be very careful." "Yes, I will." Then he went out, and he got his cart, and he put his shovel and his hoe in it, and he called his cat; but no cat came. And he called her again, but she didn't come then. So he took up the handle of his cart, and he walked over to the new house, dragging his cart behind him, with his shovel and his hoe rattling in the bottom of it. The mortar man was still there, hoeing mortar for the bricklayers to use, for the chimneys weren't done yet. "Hello," said the mortar man. "Hello," the little boy said. "I came as soon as I could." "Where's your kitty?" the mortar man asked. "You couldn't find her, could you? Well, look around behind you." The little boy looked around behind him. He was standing with his back to the house, so that, when he looked behind him he saw the new house and the carpenters who were working at great beams which were on wooden horses that stood on the ground. And he saw his cat, too. She was walking toward him, with her bushy tail sticking straight up in the air. But the little boy was too much interested in what the carpenters were doing to pay much attention to his cat. "What are those men doing?" he asked of the mortar man. "The carpenters? They are cutting mortises in those girts. That is, little holes in those big beams. The ends of other beams will be made small enough to go in those holes, and they will hold the floor up." "Mor--tar!" shouted one of the men who were building the chimney. The mortar man hurried off with his hod of mortar, and the little boy wandered over to where the carpenters were. His cat went, too, but he left his cart by the pile of sand. There were two carpenters there, and they both looked up and smiled.