Of course I had to cover over the top of the well itself, otherwise it would have been simply swamped with the carcasses of eager animals and birds.
But, it may be asked, why did I take the trouble to supply everything that walked and flew and crawled with water when water was so precious?
A moment's thought will furnish the answer.

If I suffered all the animals, birds, and reptiles to die, I myself would be without food, and then my last state would be considerably worse than the first.
I think the snakes were the most ungrateful creatures of all.

Sometimes they would deliberately coil themselves up in the trough itself, and so prevent the birds from approaching.

I always knew when something of this kind had happened, because of the frightful screeching and general uproar set up by the indignant birds--that is to say, such as had the power to screech left.

I would hurry to the spot and drag out the cause of the trouble with a forked stick.