At last the waters parted softly , and floating on the surface he saw the beautiful woman whom he had fled from only a few nights before . He turned to run , but his feet were glued to the spot . She smiled at him and held out her arms , but as she did so there came over him the remembrance of Julia , as he had seen her a few hours earlier , and her warnings and fears for the very danger in which he now found himself . Meanwhile the figure was always drawing nearer , nearer ; but , with a violent effort , Alonzo shook off his stupor , and taking aim at her shoulder he pulled the trigger . The report awoke the sleeping echoes , and was repeated all through the forest , but the figure smiled still , and went on advancing . Again Alonzo fired , and a second time the bullet whistled through the air , and the figure advanced nearer . A moment more , and she would be at his side . Then , his pistol being empty , he grasped the barrel with both hands , and stood ready to use it as a club should the Yara approach and closer . But now it seemed her turn to feel afraid , for she paused an instant while he pressed forward , still holding the pistol above his head , prepared to strike . In his excitement he had forgotten the river , and it was not till the cold water touched his feet that he stood still by instinct . The Yara saw that he was wavering , and suffering herself to sway gently backwards and forwards on the surface of the river , she began to sing . The song floated through the trees , now far and now near ; no one could tell whence it came , the whole air seemed full of it . Alonzo felt his senses going and his will failing . His arms dropped heavily to his side , but in falling struck against the sea shell , which , as he had promised Julia , he had always carried in his coat . His dimmed mind was just clear enough to remember what she had said , and with trembling fingers , that were almost powerless to grasp , he drew it out . As he did so the song grew sweeter and more tender than before , but he shut his ears to it and bent his head over the shell . Out of its depths arose the voice of Julia singing to him as she had sung when she gave him the shell , and though the notes sounded faint at first , they swelled louder and louder till the mist which had gathered about him was blown away . Then he raised his head , feeling that he had been through strange places , where he could never wander any more ; and he held himself erect and strong , and looked about him . Nothing was to be seen but the shining of the river , and the dark shadows of the trees ; nothing was to be heard but the hum of the insects , as they darted through the night . -LSB- Adapted from Folklore Bresilien . -RSB-
The Cunning Hare In a very cold country , far across the seas , where ice and snow cover the ground for many months in the year , there lived a little hare , who , XXXXX his father and mother were both dead , was brought up by his grandmother .
In about as at by from on over than with