“I’m going on a voyage of discovery,” said Mr. Brownie to his wife, one morning at breakfast. “You might pack me up a few sandwiches, my dear.”

Of course Mrs. Brownie, being a kind wife, said, “Yes, with pleasure.”

“Where are you going to, Daddy?” asked Bobby Brownie, who was rather a pert little fellow.

“I am going,” said his father in a very grand tone, “to discover the West Pole.”

“The West Pole!—Never heard of such a place! Where is it?” said Bobby.

“It is close to where the sun sets,” was the reply. “The exact spot is left for me to find out.”

And shortly after breakfast Mr. Brownie started forth.

He tramped a long, long distance until at last he came to a meadow near a farm-house. Here he saw—not the West Pole but a toad-stool which had sprung up in the night.

“Dear me,” said he, looking at it all round, “this seems very ancient.”

When he got on the top and was looking at it in wonder, the farmer’s geese came and had something to say to him.

“Who are you, when you’re at home?” they cried in goose language. “You think yourself a very fine fellow, no doubt!”

And there he sat, shaking like a leaf, besieged by the geese.

When at last he did reach home in safety—after the geese had been called to dinner—he had a wonderful story to tell.

“So you never discovered the West Pole, after all,” said Bobby.

“No,” replied Mr. Brownie, with great dignity, “but I discovered a toad-stool and that was better than nothing.”

And to this they all agreed.