Humbug


Two boys once thought to play a trick on Charles Darwin. They took the

body of a centipede, the wings of a butterfly, the legs of a grasshopper

and the head of a beetle, and glued these together to form a weird

monster. With the composite creature in a box, they visited Darwin.



"Please, sir, will you tell us what sort of a bug this is?" the

spokesman asked.



The naturalist gave a short glance at the exhibit and a long glance at

the boys.



"Did it hum?" he inquired solemnly.



The boys replied enthusiastically, in one voice:



"Oh, yes, sir."



"Well, then," Darwin declared, "it is a humbug."



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