One day when Ed was at the zoo he stopped to watch some little furry animals in a large cage. They looked a little bit like rabbits with their soft fur and dark eyes, but the sign said that they were conies.
Ed was just thinking what nice pets they would make when suddenly a roar came echoing up through the zoo! It was the roar of a lion who evidently wanted his dinner -and wanted it right away!
Before the lion could roar the second time Ed suddenly realized that every coney had disappeared. It almost seemed as though the ground had swallowed them up, so completely had they vanished! Why! wherever had they gone to? Ed scratched his head as he tried to figure it out. Again the lion roared and it almost seemed as though the earth trembled. Say, was that what had frightened those little conies?
Looking more carefully he noticed a large rock in the back of the cage. As he watched closely he saw many holes in it, and, yes! that was where the conies had hidden! From each hole he could see a pair of beady eyes looking out at him.
Ed chuckled as he realized what a wise animal the little coney was. That old lion could wear his claws out scratching at that rock if he were loose in their cage, but he would never be able to have those conies for his dinner!
Sometime or other he had heard a Bible verse about the conies being a “feeble folk,” but that they made their houses in the rocks, and that that was their refuge. While he stood there watching and thinking he thought of another verse: “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)).
“And I know who he's looking for to 'devour,' it's me, and every other boy and girl—grown-ups, too!” he thought, “just like this old lion would like to make a mouthful out of one of these conies if he had a chance to!
“Say! I really learned something from these conies today!”