Transcriber’s Note:

Mid-paragraph illustrations were moved to adjoin their related fable.

The Fox and the Grapes.—Page 10.

Æsop.

The Horse and the Ass.—Page 10.

Æsop.

[Pg 9]

AESOP’S FABLES.

THE BOY AND THE WOLF.

A boy, who kept watch on a flock of sheep, was heard from time to time to call out, “The Wolf! The Wolf!” in mere sport. Scores of times, in this way, had he drawn the men in the fields from their work. But when they found it was a joke, they made up their minds that, should the boy call “Wolf” once more, they would not stir to help him. The wolf, at last, did come. “The Wolf! The Wolf!” shrieks out the boy, in great fear, but none will now heed his cries, and the wolf kills the boy, that he may feast on the sheep.

One knows not how to trust those who speak lies, though they may tell one the truth.

The Boy and the Wolf.—Page 9.

Æsop.

Some boys were at play at the edge of a pond, and, as their game was “ducks and drakes,” they had to throw stones with as much force as they could, to the great harm of some poor frogs in the pool. At length one of them, who was more brave than the rest, put his head out of the pond and said, “Oh, dear young sirs, stop, I pray you, for what is sport to you is death to us!”

A fine horse broke loose from his stall, and as he ran down the road with a loud, shrill neigh, he met an ass with a load on his back, to whom he said, in a proud tone, that if he did not make way for him, he would kick him with his heels, and tread him in the dust. The poor ass held his peace, and made room for him as fast as he could. In course of time the horse went to the wars, and was shot in the eye, which so spoilt his good looks, that he was sent to work on the farm. Stript of all his pomp, he was met by the ass, who said to him. “Ha! is it you? Your state is now as low as mine. I thought your pride would have a fall some day!”

One hot day a fox saw some grapes which hung on a wall, and he took a spring to seize them, but made too short a bound; so then he leapt with all his might, but could not [Pg 11] quite reach them; and each jump he took was still too short. There hung the fine ripe grapes, but not for him. Then, as he found he could not get at them, he said, “It is not worth my while to try, for the grapes are sour.”

They who can not as they will, must will as they can.

A fly, one night, stood on the rim of a pot of jam, and as he could not turn from so rare a feast, he went down the jar that he might reach the fruit; but found to his cost that he stuck fast like a bird caught with lime. A moth that flew by, chid him thus: “It serves thee right! How couldst thou think that such legs and wings as thine, would be safe in a pot of jam?” By and by the moth saw a lamp in the same room, and flew in the light of it, but at last his sight grew dim, he sprang up to the flame, and was burnt to death. “What!” says the fly, who saw him, “How is this? You love to play with fire! You who took me to task for so small a crime as a taste for jam!”

We tax our friends with faults, but see not our own.

A lynx by chance met a mole at the foot of a mound. “Ah, poor wretch!” said the lynx, “what a life is yours! Shut up in the cold, damp ground, you see no light, nor [Pg 12] feel the warmth of the sun, for you do but move from mine to mine. If you could but see me as I vault by your dark mound with limbs so free, and my sight—ah! my sight—so keen, you would die of grief at your dull life. Would that I could change it for you, my friend!” “I thank you for your kind wish,” said the mole; “but I need not your help, nor do I feel so dull as you think, for I was bred and born in the ground, and all my days have been spent here. I have my dear young ones round me, and more than all, I am safe. My eyes are small, it is true, but that has made my ears sharp, and if they serve me well now, I hear a sound which seems to come from where you stand, and it tells of a foe.” Just then up rode some men from the hunt, who thrust a spear through the heart of the poor lynx, and he fell dead; but the mole went safe back to her hole in the bank, and said, when she got there, “Home is home for all that.”

What the eye sees not, the heart rues not.

Though the fox runs, the chick has wings.

An old man who saw a child stand for a long time by the side of a stream, said, “My boy, why do you gaze so long on this brook?” “Sir,” said the child, “I stay here to wait till the stream has run off, for then I shall pass with dry feet.” “Nay,” quoth the old man, “you might stay out your life, and yet not do that, for this brook will run on as long as time. And as you wend your way [Pg 13] through life, you will find this out. If you go with the stream, you will get to the sea; but if you do not go with the stream, you will have to wade.”

Once on a time some mice were in such great dread of a cat, that they did not dare to stir day or night lest she should kill them. At this rate they thought they should starve, so they all met to talk of the best thing for them to do. While they thus sat in great doubt, a pert young mouse rose and said, “I have thought of a good plan, and that is to tie a bell to the cat’s neck, which would ring at each step she takes, and let us know when she comes near.” This bright speech brought hope with it, and made the mice jump for joy. Then a grave old mouse, who till now had been quite mute, rose and said, “I have heard that you ‘hold a wolf by the ears’ and that you ‘put salt on the bird’s tail,’ but what shall we do to bell the cat?”

Safe bind, safe find.

Two men had to pass through a thick wood, and one of them said, “Should we fall in with wild beasts, I will come to your help, if you will do the same by me.” “So be it,” said his friend, and off they set. They had not gone far when a bear made a rush out of the wood. The man who had made the good rule for them to act on, got [Pg 14] up a tree to hide, and his poor friend was put to his wits’ end to save his life, so he fell flat on the ground, held his breath, and lay quite still, that the bear might think he was dead. The huge beast came close up to him, and felt him with his snout, but as he took him for a dead man, did him no harm. When the bear was gone, and all was safe, the man came down from the tree, and with a smile, said, “What did the bear tell you when he put his snout so close up to your ear?” “Well,” said his friend, “what he told me was this—‘Have a care of that rogue up the tree, and for the time to come put no trust in him!’”

Prove thy friend ere thou have need of him.

An old fox and her young one found their way to a yard where hens were kept, and one by one they put them all to death. It was the wish of the young fox to eat them all then and there, but his dam said, “We have had great luck, yet we must not spend all our stock at once, but put some by, and come for it when we want it.” “Don’t preach to me,” said the pert young fox, “the fowls will not keep sweet a day, so I shall eat as much as I can now, for when the men on the farm see what we have done, they will, of course, look out for us.” The young fox then ate such a meal that it was all he could do to crawl to his hole, and in less than an hour he was dead. The old fox came back to the hoard, and was caught by the men, who had lain in wait to kill her. “Ah!” said she, with her last breath, “each age hath its fault; each bean its black; each day its night; each weal its woe!”

A man, well known for his wit, said he could show a trick which had not yet been seen. So he took his stand on a stage, and, with his head thrust down, he gave out a sound like the squeak of a pig. This he did so well, that all thought he had brought a young pig in his cloak; but though a search was made, they did not find one. A rough man from a farm, who had come to look on, said, “Faith, I can do this as well as he.” So the next night they were both to try their skill. A great crowd came to see them, and the men went on the stage. The first man gave his squeak, which brought a roar of praise, as it had done the first night. The boor’s turn then came, and he had a real young pig in his cloak; but though he made it squeak by a hard pinch on the ear, all gave the palm to the first man, and sent the boor off the stage with a loud hiss.

Give a man luck, and you may throw him in the sea.

One hot day a wolf came to quench his thirst at a clear brook that ran down the side of a hill. By chance a young lamb stood there. The wolf had a wish to eat her, but felt some qualms, so for a plea he made out that the lamb was his foe. “Stand off from the banks, sir,” said he, “for as you tread them you stir mud in the stream, and all I can get to drink is thick and foul.” The young lamb said, in a mild tone, that she did not see how [Pg 16] that could be the case, as the brook ran down hill to her from the spot where he stood. “But,” said the wolf, “how dare you drink of it at all, till I have had my fill?” Then the poor lamb told him that as yet her dam’s milk was both food and drink to her. “Be that as it may,” said the wolf, “you are a bad lamb; for last year I heard that you spoke ill of me and all my race.” “Last year! dread sir,” quoth the lamb, “why, I have not yet been shorn, and at the time you name I was not born.” The wolf, who found it was of no use to tell lies, fell in a great rage, and as he came up to the lamb, he said, “All you sheep have the same dull kind of face, and how is one to know which is which? If it was not you, it was your dam, and that’s all the same thing, so I shall not let you go from here.” He then flew at the poor meek lamb, and made a meal of her.

Might beats Right.

[Pg 17]

The Wolf and the Lamb.—Page 15.

Æsop.

A poor man, in a storm of wind and rain, came to a great house to beg for alms, and was sent off with cross words. But he went back, and said, “May I but ask to dry my clothes at your fire, for I am wet with rain?” This the maids thought would not cost them much, so they let him come in. He then told the cook that if she would but give him a pan, and let him fill it from the pump, he would make some stone broth. This kind of dish was so new to the cook, that she let him make it. The man then got a stone from the road, and put it in the pan. The cook gave him some salt, peas, mint, thyme, and all the [Pg 18] scraps of meat that she could spare, to throw in. Thus the poor man made a rich mess, and the cook said, “Well done! you have made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear; and it just shows that ‘they who crave for food will break through stone walls.’”

Where there’s a will there’s a way.

Once on a time a poor gnat sat on the horn of a bull, and said, “I have made free to rest on the tip of your horn; but if my weight is at all too much for you, pray say so, and I will move off.” “I think you are more nice than wise,” said the bull. “To tell you the truth, I did not know when you sat down, so I shall not miss you when you think fit to rise up.” At this the bull gave his head a toss, and put the gnat to death with his tongue.

It is a dull bird that points out her own nest.

A man who sold doves in the East threw down some grains of rice in a wood, and flung a net on the top of them in such a way that it could not be seen in the grass, and then hid close by to watch. Soon the king of the wild doves, “Smooth Neck” by name, flew up to the spot with his train, and said, “Whence can all these grains of rice come? Let it be seen to. Eat them not yet.” But the doves, drawn by greed, set to work to pick them up, [Pg 19] and they were all caught in the net. “Ha!” said Smooth Neck, “I thought this might be the work of a foe. You would not wait, as I told you to do, and this has come of it. Hark to the plan which I have in hand. We know that small things may work out great ends, and that huge beasts may be bound with straws made firm in a thick rope. Now, all put out your strength at once, take up the net, and fly off.” This they did, and the man who had set the snare was much struck to see his net borne off in the air by the birds. “This is well,” said one of the doves, “but what are we to do now, with these toils on our feet?” Smooth Neck said, “We are in an ill plight, but Gold Fur, the wise king of the mice, may help us.” So he went in search of Gold Fur’s hole, which had scores of small doors that led to it, deep down in the ground. The good mouse came out to meet them, and when he had heard their tale, he said, “As long as my teeth do not break, I will gnaw the nets for you.” So with his sharp teeth he cut the snare, and set them all free. Then, with great joy, the king of the doves bent low his smooth neck to him, and said, “How much we owe to you! Think of us as your slaves for life; for a friend in need is the best friend of all.”

A cock came down from his roost at break of day, and set up a loud, shrill crow; he then went to work to scratch the ground in search of food for the hens. By and by, what should he turn up but a bright gem. He gave it a [Pg 20] kick and said, “Ha! you are a fine thing, no doubt; but, to my mind, one good grain of wheat is worth all the gems in the world.”

Do not cast pearls to swine.

The Cock and the Gem.—Page 19.

Æsop.

An oak which stood on the side of a brook was torn up by the roots in a storm, and as the wind took it down the stream, its boughs caught on some reeds which grew on the bank. “How strange it is,” said the oak, “that such a slight and frail thing as a reed should face the blast, while my proud front, which till now has stood like an Alp, is torn down, root and branch!” A reed, which caught the sound of these words, said, in soft tones, “If I may be free with you, I think the cause of it lies in your pride of heart. You are stiff and hard, and trust in your own strength, while we yield and bow to the rough blast.”

It is worse to break than to bend.

A young kid that would stray from the herd saw a wolf, and did her best to get out of his reach; but when she found that all hope was lost, she said, “Sir wolf, I know that I am to die at your hands, so as my life will now be but short, I pray of you to let it be a gay one. [Pg 21] Now, do you pipe while I dance.” So the wolf pipes, and the kid jumps and springs to please him. A pack of hounds who heard the sound, ran up to see who was there, and then the wolf set off as fast as his legs would take him, and the kid came home safe. Quoth she, with a hop and a skip:

But the wolf gave a deep sigh, and said:

The Kid and the Wolf.—Page 20.

Æsop.

Two men set off to walk from Bath to York, and said they would each share the same fate, come what might. All went well till they got half way, when one of them saw a bag of gold in the path, which he took up. “Ha!” said he, “I am in luck’s way. See, I have found a bag of gold! I will buy a horse and ride the rest of my way.” “My friend,” said the man who went with him, “when we set out you told me we were to share the same luck, be it good or bad; so you ought to say ‘we’ have found a bag of gold, not ‘I.’” “You may think just as you please,” said the man, “but as it was I who found the gold, I shall keep it, and do with it as I said, and wish you good day.” Just then they heard a hue and cry of “Stop thief!” “Come, I pray you,” said the man (who held the bag), in a great fright; “come, let us hide in this wood, for if the men find us with the gold, they will take us for thieves, and we shall get hung for it.” “How now?” said his friend; “you swore it should be ‘I’ when you found the bag, so pray let it be ‘I’ as long as there is fear of theft.”

A just man’s word is as good as a bond.

One gets the prize, and both bear the blame.

A fox who went to steal some young chicks was caught in a trap, from which he got free, but with the loss of his tail; and when he came to mix with the world, he saw [Pg 24] how high a price he had paid for it, for none of the beasts who stole a look at him could hide a laugh, and the fox thought it would have been well for him if his life had gone with the “brush.” But, to make the best of things, he sent to all the rest of his race to beg of them to meet him on a heath, and there the fox held forth and said, “I would have you all cut off your tails. You know not the ease with which I can now move. Of what use is the tail to us? If we creep through a hole in the hedge, as we fly from the hounds, it stops us in the way. It is the ‘brush,’ you know, that man strives for in the hunt; and then, too, in spite of all we can do, it is apt to be caught in a trap.” A sly old fox who heard him, said, with a leer, “It strikes me that you would not so much care to see us part with our tails, if you had a chance to get your own back!”

Bought wit is the best.

The Fox who had lost His Tail.—Page 22.

Æsop.

A man in the East kept a tame ape, who was of great use to him, for he could scare the birds from the fruit and peas. One day the man took his sleep at noon, and the ape sat by his side to brush the flies from his face. One fly came and stood on the tip of his nose, so the ape, with a grin, sent it off; then it flew to his chin, and this put the ape in such a rage that he flung a stone at it, which smote the fly; but, sad to tell, the force with which the stone was thrown broke the man’s jaw.

A rash friend is worse than a foe.

A man who had a farm in a cold part of the world, was shut up in it by a deep fall of snow, and could not get out to buy food, so he ate all his sheep, one by one, and, as the frost did not break up, he then ate his pigs, then his goats, and, at last, the ox that was kept for the plough. When the dogs on the farm found this out, they said, “Let us be off! for since the man thinks it no harm to kill his sheep, his pigs, his goats, and his ox, how can we hope that he will spare us?”

When the house next door is on fire, it is high time to look to our own.

Some frogs that were in a damp marsh saw two bulls which fought in a field some way off. “Look!” said one of them, “there’s a sight! Dear sirs, what must we do?” “I pray thee,” said a young frog, “do not take fright at that. How can the feuds of two bulls hurt us? They are not of the same tribe as we are, far less in the same rank of life; and as to size, why we are too small for such large beasts as those to take note of us. They do but fight to see which shall be head of the herd.” “That is true,” said an old frog, “but as one will win the day, one must, of course, yield, and the bull that is sent out of the field will come to the marsh for rush and reed, and will crush us to death at each step. Know you not that when great folk fall out, small folk smart for it?”

A wolf once fell in a vat of blue dye which is made in the East. A man came by and thought he was dead, so he took him out and laid him on the bank and went his way; and then the wolf, glad to be safe, ran off to the woods. One by one, all the beasts came to gaze on him, and knew not what to make of him. So then the sly wolf said, “My fur is of a fine blue! You see in me a new kind of beast, and so I must, of course, be king of all the rest!” Then the bears, the boars, the apes, the wolves, as well as the ounce, the lynx, the bull, the fox, and all the rest of them, drew near to bow their heads to him as the lord of the wood. But soon the wolves thought they saw in the king some trace of kin, and one of them said, “Be it for me to find out, and let it be done as I say. At night you must all set up a loud yell near him, and if he be one of us—as I think he is—he will send forth a loud howl too.” So all at once the wolves put up their heads to howl, and they soon heard the new king join in the cry, for he could not help it. At this, a loud laugh rang through the wood from all the beasts of the plain. What is bred in the bone will not out of the flesh.

A man and his son drove their ass to a fair to sell him. They had not gone far, when one of a group of girls, who stood round a well, said, with a laugh, “Look at those two fools—they let their ass walk at his ease, while they [Pg 27] trudge on foot by his side.” The man heard this, and set his son on the beast. They had not gone more than half a mile, when they came up to some old men who sat in grave talk. “There,” said one of them, “that just proves what I say; now a days the young take no care of the old; see, that young rogue rides, while the old man has to walk by his side. Get down, and let your sire rest his limbs.” At this the man made his son jump off the ass, that he might ride him. Thus they went on for a space, when they met three kind dames, each with a child on her arm. “Why, you old sloth,” said one of them, “what a shame to sit at ease while that poor slight lad can scarce keep pace by the side of you!” The man then took his [Pg 28] son on the croup of the ass by his side, and so they rode till they got near the town. “Pray, good friend,” said a young man who met them, “is that ass your own?” “Yes,” said he. “One would not have thought so by the way you load him. Why, it seems to me more fit that you two should take him to the fair, than that he should take you.” “Well, be it so,” said the old man; “we can but try.” So they got off, and made fast the legs of the ass to a pole, which each took hold of at one end, and so went on their way, till they came to a bridge. This was a rare sight, and so the boys and girls thought, for they ran in crowds to laugh at the farce, till the ass—which took fright at the noise—gave a kick which broke the cords that bound him; so he fell in the stream, and sank. The old man then made the best of his way home, and said, “If we try to please all, we please none.”

THE MAN, HIS SON, AND HIS ASS.

A fox that had been out to poach, had got hurt in a trap, and lay at the point of death. For a long time he sought in vain for aid, but at last he saw a crane, and said to her, “I beg of you to bring me some drink to quench my thirst, for I might then gain strength to go in search of food.” “Not far in search, I think,” said the crane, “for were I to bring you drink, I make no doubt that the food would come with me.”

Play not with edge tools.

A hen led her train of young chicks through a yard, to rake the chaff and to show the grain, when one of them flew on the edge of a well to try her wings, and by chance dropt down it, to the great grief of the old bird. The next day, when the hen met one of her chicks from an old brood, she said, “My dear son, I know you are strong and bold, but, for your life, do not go near that well; if you do, some great harm will come to you.” “Why should she give me this charge?” said he. “Does she think I am not brave, or does she store some good thing down the well, which she keeps for her last brood? I will go and see.” So he stood at the brink of the well, and, far down in the dark, he saw a spruce young cock, whose plumes [Pg 30] rose, and whose wings spread, as if he had a wish to fight. Down flew the young bird—to rise no more.

If a fool is bid not to do a thing, he is sure to do it.

The best shield is to keep out of the reach of shot.

A boy stole a horn book from school, and brought it home to his aunt, who did not take him to task for what he had done, but gave him some plums for his pains. In course of time the child grew up to be a man, and—need we say?—a thief. He stole more and more, and at last was caught in a great theft, and was hung. A crowd came to look on at the sad scene, and with them the aunt of the thief, who, with sobs and tears, tore her hair and beat her breast. The thief saw her, and said to those who were in charge of him, “Give me leave to say a word to my aunt.” When she came up, he put his face to hers, as if he would speak, and bit off her ear! At this the aunt gave a loud cry, and all who stood near were struck with awe at so base a deed. “Good sirs,” said the young man, “it is she who is the cause of my guilt; for if, when I stole the horn book from school, she had had the sense to point out to me that I had done wrong, I should not have come to this sad end.”

Spare the rod, and spoil the child.

He that will steal an ounce, will steal a pound.

A man drove his ass down to the coast to buy a load of salt, and on his way home the ass fell in the midst of a stream. The salt, of course, did not take long to melt, and so the ass lost his load, and came home fresh and gay. The next day the man set off to the coast for some more salt, and put the load on his ass once more. As they went through the stream, the ass took care to fall down just at the same spot, and thus got rid of his load this time too. But the man, who now saw the trick, made a plan to cure the ass of it. He bought a large load of sponge, and put it on the back of the beast, and drove him, for the third time, to the coast. By and by they came to the stream, when the ass thought to play his old pranks. But the sponge got wet through, and the ass found to his cost that so far from a light load, he had now on his back one which was ten times the weight of the first.

If a man cheats me once, shame on him. If he cheats me twice, shame on me.

A poor lean wolf, that was but skin and bone, fell in with a plump house dog, and said, “How comes it, my friend, that you look so fat and sleek, while I, who am in the woods night and day in search of food, do but starve at the best?” “Well,” said the dog, “you may be as well off as I am, if you will do the same for it. I have [Pg 32] but to guard the house from thieves; so come home with me, and see how you like the life.” “With all my heart!” cries the wolf.

As they went down the road side by side, the wolf saw a mark on the dog’s neck, and would know what it was. So they had a talk.

Dog.—Well, it may be a slight mark from the chain.

Wolf.—Chain! Do you mean to say that you may not roam when and where you please?

Dog.—Why, not quite. For, you see, they do look on me as the least in the world fierce, so they tie me up by day, but I am let loose at night. And all in the house pet me, and feed me with scraps from their own plates, and—Come on. What ails you?

Wolf.—Oh, good night to you. I wish you joy of your fine life; but, for my part, though I may not be fat, I will at least be free.

No one loves chains, though they be made of gold.

The Wolf and the House Dog.—Page 31.

Æsop.

One hot day, a stag came to quench his thirst at a lake, and stood there to scan his shape from head to foot, as it shone in the clear pool. “What strength is there,” said he, “in this fine pair of horns which branch out with so much grace from each side of my head! If the rest of my form were but of a piece with my horns, I would give place to none. But, ah, me! how slight are these poor legs of mine. I would as lief have none at all.” Just then some men, and a pack of hounds that had been on [Pg 33] the scent, made to the spot where the stag stood. Off he went, at full speed; and those legs, with which he found so much fault, soon took him out of the reach of hounds and men. But the horns which he was so vain of, by ill luck, caught in the boughs of a tree, and held him there till the hounds came to pull him down.

The Stag in the Lake.—Page 32.

Æsop.

A man once saw a fox which had so sleek a coat that he felt a wish to kill him for the sake of it, and he thought of a plan by which he might save the skin whole. He dug a deep trench just in front of his hole, on which he spread leaves, sticks, and straw, and then hid in the thick trees out of sight, to wait till the fox came home. But he went to sleep; and while he slept, the fox came up, saw the piece of meat, and had a great wish to taste it; yet when he stole a look round him, he had his doubts that all was right, so he did not touch it. Soon a bear came up, and sprang on the bait. The sticks gave way as he lit on them, and down he fell in the pit. The noise woke up the man, who, as he thought of course it was his friend the fox, went down the pit, where the bear gave him a hug which took all the breath out of his lungs, and then ate him up. So the man was caught in his own trap.

He must rise in good time who would cheat the fox.

A crow sat on the bough of a tree with a piece of cheese in her beak. A sly old fox which saw her, said, “What a fine bird thou art! How bright is thine eye, how sleek are thy wings, what grace is there in the turn of thy whole form! Oh, that such a bird should lack a voice!” The poor crow was much struck with this speech, saw not its guile, and would fain prove how sweet her note was; so she gave a loud caw, and down fell the cheese to the ground. The fox ran off with it, and said, as he went, “I spoke loud of her charms; but fair words do not cost much, nor does the heart feel all that the false tongue speaks. Yet I said not a word of her brains; for a wise head makes a close mouth, and a close mouth will catch no flies.”

The Fox and the Crow.—Page 34.

Æsop.

A stag that had left the hounds a long way off, came up to a man who was at work on a farm, to ask if he would show him some safe place to hide in. So the man bade him hide in his own hut, which was close by. The stag lay quite still in the hut, and in a short time up came the squire and his train with the hounds. The squire caught sight of the boor, and drew back to ask him if he had seen the stag pass that way. “No,” said the boor, in a loud tone, “I have not.” At the same time—as he had a wish to keep on good terms with the squire—he held out his hand, with a sly look, to point to the hut where the [Pg 35] stag lay hid; but as luck would have it, the squire took no heed of this sign, nor did he so much as see it. So on he went to join the rest; but though they rode through the field where the hut was, they did not see the stag. As soon as they were well out of sight, the stag stole from the hut, but said not a word to the boor, who now gave a loud call to him. “You wretch!” said he, “you owe your life to me, yet when you leave my hut, where I sent you to screen you from your foes, you say not one word of thanks.” “Nay,” quoth the stag, “you may make sure I should fill your ears as full of praise and thanks as my heart is of joy, if your deeds had been true to your words; in short, if I had not, through the door of the hut, seen your hand play false to your tongue.”

A young mouse, which had not seen much of the world, came home one day and said, “Oh, I have had such a fright! I have seen a thing with such a fierce look, that struts now here, now there, on two legs; on his head he wears a small red flag, and one round his throat, his arms flap up and down on his sides as if he meant to rise in the air. But you should have seen him stretch out his head, and roar at me with his sharp mouth, till I thought he would eat me up. It made me shake from head to foot with fear, and I was glad to run home as fast as my feet would take me. But for this I should have [Pg 36] made friends with as sweet a soul as could be. She had soft fur like ours, which was black and gray in streaks. Her look was so bland and meek that I fell quite in love with her. Then she had a fine long tail, which you might see wave to and fro, first on this side, then on that; and when I saw her fix her bright eyes on me I thought she had a wish to speak; when that fierce wretch set up his scream, which drove me in this haste, quite out of breath with fear.” “Ah! my dear child,” said the old mouse, “in good truth you have run for your life; but the fierce thing you speak of was not your foe, for it was but a bird, that would not have done you the least harm in the world; while that sweet thing, of which you seem so fond, was a cat, and cats eat all us mice when they have a chance—in short, they live on mice.”

Judge not by looks.

One hot day in June, two men lay down in the shade of a plane tree, to get out of the rays of the sun, and as they lay there, they cast their eyes up to the boughs. “A plane tree bears no fruit,” said one of them. “In good sooth,” quoth his friend, “that seems but a poor tree that is of no use to man!” The plane chid them, and said, “Sirs, you must be as blind as you are base, to come here and lie in the shade I give, and yet rail at me as a thing that is of no use to man.”

Once on a time two sheep met, and one of them said to her friend, “Last night our dog Spring ate a lamb, and then bit the old one to death, as well as the man of the farm.” “Nay,” quoth the friend, “if that be true, in whom can we put our trust?” Thus spread the news, and such was the crime of Spring, who now lay bound, while a group of men sat to judge his case. Spring then said, with a firm voice, “For more than ten years I have done my work as a sheep dog should. Last night, as I lay on the ground, a wolf leapt forth from the wood, sprang at a lamb, and drank its blood, then let fall his prize, and stood at bay. We fought, and I slew the wolf. But now, when I saw the lamb, as it lay dead on the grass, I could in no way curb my wish to eat it. While I was at my feast, the ewe came up to seek for her young one; so, lest she should charge its death on me, I thought it best to kill her. Just then, up came the man of the farm, who of course thought that I had put both to death. His eye met mine; he held up his staff; I could not pause; dead men tell no tales, thought I, and so flew at his throat. You know, too well, the rest.”

If we do not crush sin in the bud, it will grow strong, and crush us.

Do what you ought, come what may.

The birds and the beasts once went to war. The bat—which could not be said to be bird or beast—at first kept out of the way of both, but when he thought the beasts would win the day, he was found in their ranks, and to prove his right to be there, he said, “Can you find a bird that has two rows of teeth in his head, as I have?” At last the birds had the best of the fight, so then the bat was seen to join their ranks. “Look,” said he, “I have wings, so what else can I be but a bird?” “To grind with all winds” was thought base in the bat by both sides of the fight, and he could not get bird or beast to own him, and to this day he hides and skulks in caves and stems of trees, and does not come out till dark, when all the birds of the air have gone to roost, and the beasts of the field are wrapt in sleep.

One must not blow hot and cold.

A young child put his hand in a jar where nuts and figs were kept. He took all that his fist could hold, but when he came to pull it out, the neck of the jar was too small for him to do so. At this the tears came in his eyes, and a friend, who stood by, said, “Grasp at but half, my boy, and you will have it; but grasp at all, and lose all.”

An ape, who had two young ones, felt a great love for her fine child, but did not care at all for the plain one. One day, when by chance the old dam was put to flight, she caught up the fine young ape in her arms, but left the plain one to get on as it could, so it leapt on the dam’s back, and off they set. The old ape ran so fast to save her pet, that in her haste its head was caught by the branch of a tree, and it fell down dead from the blow; but the plain one clung on tight to the dam’s rough back, and so came off safe and sound.

The pet child may die from too much care.

A fox one night had been out some hours in the snow in search of food, and yet had found none. At last he met a wolf in the same case, to whom he said, “Do you see the horse in that field? Well, I think if you lend me your help, I could kill him.” When they came up to the horse, the fox was much struck to find how small his size was by the side of him. “May I ask your name, and that of the man who owns you?” “My name is Squire,” said the horse. “I have not yet heard the man’s name, but I think if you wish to know it you can see the stamp on my shoe.” The sly fox, who made a shrewd guess at [Pg 40] what this meant, said, “Nay, I do not know how to read, but”—here he gave a low bow to the wolf—“my friend has a gift that way.” The wolf, who was made quite vain by this soft speech, came up to read, but as he bent down his head to do so, Squire gave a kick which clave his skull in two.

Take the nuts out of the fire with the cat’s paw.

THE LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES.

A lark had a nest of young birds in a field of corn, and one day two men came to look at the state of the crop. “Well,” says one of them to his son, “I think this wheat is ripe, so now go and ask our friends to help us reap it.” When the old lark came back to her nest, the young brood told her, in a great fright, what they had heard. “So they look to their friends,” said she; “well, I think we have no cause to fear.” The next day the man of the farm came, and saw no friends in the corn field, so he bade his son fetch his kith and kin to help him. This the young birds heard, and told to the old one when she came home to her nest. Quoth she, “I do not see that men go much out of their way to help those that are of the same kith and kin.” In the course of a day or two, as the man found that no one came, he said to his son, “Hark you, John; we will trust to none, but you and I will reap the corn at dawn of day.” “Now,” said the old lark, “we [Pg 41] must be gone; for when a man takes his work in his own hands, it is sure to be done.”

No eye so good as one’s own; no work so well done.

He that by the plow would thrive ... must hold or drive.

The Lark and Her Young Ones.—Page 40.

Æsop.

A kite had built her nest at the top of an old oak, and in a hole half way up the tree, a wild cat had found a home; while the foot of the tree made a sty for a sow and her young pigs. For some time they all went on in [Pg 42] peace, and might have done so to this day, but for the spite of the cat. For, first of all, she crept up to the kite, and said, “Good friend, I have news to tell you, which will plunge us both in grief. The old sow does naught else than grub at the foot of the tree, and we all know what that will come to. It is clear that she means to root it up, that she may kill your young ones. For my part, I will take care of my own, and you can do as you please; but you may be sure I shall watch her well, though I were to stay at home for a month for it.” When she had said this to the kite, she went down and made a call on the sow at the foot of the tree. She put on a grave face, and said, “I hope you do not mean to go out?” “Why not?” said the sow. “Nay,” said she, “you may do as you please; but I heard the kite say to her brood that she would treat them with a pig the first time she saw you go out; and I do not feel sure that she may not take one of my young ones at the same time. So good day to you, for I must look at home, you see.” With these words she went back to her hole.

The scheme that puss had in her head was to steal out at night for her prey, and peep all day at her hole, that the sow and the kite might think she was in great dread. This plan put them both in such a fright, that the kite did not dare to stir out in search of food, for fear of the sow, nor the sow for fear of the kite; and the end of it was that they and their young ones were all kept in their homes to starve, and so were made a prey of by the cat.

A man went to fish in a fresh stream, and caught a small perch, who said, “I pray of you to save my life, and put me in the stream once more, for as I am but young and small now, it is not so well worth your while to take me as it will be some time hence, when I am grown a large fish.” “So you think,” said the man; “but I am not one of those who give up that which is at hand for that which is far off; nor do I make sure of fish, flesh, or fowl till I have got it, for one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

All is fish that comes to the net.

A man in the East by chance took up a piece of clay which lay in his path, and was much struck to find it smell so sweet. “It is but a poor piece of clay,” said he, “a mean clod of earth, yet how sweet is it! How fresh! But whence has it this scent?” The clay said, “I have dwelt with the rose.”

Make friends with the good if you wish to be like them.

In days of old, a calf that ran wild in some fields near Rome, and had not yet felt the yoke, said to an old ox, “Dull slave! How can you drudge on in this way from day to day with a plough at your tail? Look at me, see how I skip and play!” The ox said not a word, but went on with his work. The next day there was a great feast held at Rome, so the ox did not go to the plough; but his friend the calf, was led off in great pomp to be slain, with a wreath round his neck. “If this is the last scene of your gay life,” said the ox, “let me drudge on at the plough, for the yoke is more to my mind than the ax.”

Of two ills, choose the least.

The Ox and the Calf.—Page 44.

Æsop.

The wolves and the sheep had been for a long time at war. At last the wolves said, “It is the dogs that are the cause of it all; they bark if we do but come near you. Now, if you will but send them off from your heels, we, on our part, will give up our young ones to you.” The poor sheep thought it a fair thing; but as soon as the change was made, the young cubs set up a howl for want of their dams. On this the old wolves gave out that the peace was at an end; so they fell on the sheep, who, as they had lost their best friends, the dogs, had none now to help them, and were torn to death by the wolves.

The Wolves and the Sheep.—Page 45.

Æsop.

A fox, who came to a farm at break of day, was caught in a springe, which had been put there for that end. A cock, who sat on the bough of a tree, did not at first dare to go near so dire a foe; but when he saw that the fox could not stir from the spot, he came down from the tree to greet him. The fox said, “Dear bird, you see what has come to me, and all for your sake; for as I crept through the hedge, on my way home, I felt I must come to ask how you are. And now I will beg of you to fetch me a knife to cut this wire.” The cock spoke not, but flew off as fast as he could to tell the news to the men on the farm, who [Pg 46] soon came up with a knife with which to cut the wire, and kill the fox. The cock said that he thought those who spoke doves’ words should lead doves’ lives. “Ha!” cries the fox, “he gives twice who gives in a trice.”

A young kid who stood on the roof of a house, out of harm’s way, saw a wolf pass by, and set to work to taunt and tease his foe. But the wolf said, “I hear you. Yet it is not you who mock me, but the roof on which you stand.”

Time and place will give to the weak more strength than the strong.

An ass once lay down in a shed that he might shirk his work, and make known to those who were near what toil was put on him. All the beasts, great and small, came to lend him help. At the same time a poor meek lamb lay at the point of death from want, but none came to give her their aid. “How is it,” said she, “that I lie here in so much need of care, whilst the ass gets all this [Pg 47] help?” A fox, who heard her, said, “The ass knows well that the loud bray which he gives by way of thanks, makes the kind acts of his friends well known, and so it swells their pride to help him.”

A good deed may spring from a bad source.

A snail, one day, made his way through the hole of a bee hive, where, in a great rage, the bees flew round him, and stung him to death. But soon they found that the snail, when dead, was all the more a foe than when he had life, for the air in the hive was not fit to breathe. What was to be done? He was of too great bulk for the bees to turn him out, so they had to leave the hive; and they found, to their cost, that they ought to have let the poor snail just crawl out as he had come in. The bees made a long search for a new home, but in vain, so they went back to their old hive, to see what could be done with the dead snail. And, in the end, they all set to work to build a case of wax round the shell of their guest, so as to close him in a sort of tomb, and thus they made the hive as sweet as the stores that were laid up in the combs.

When things come to the worst, they must mend.

In the good old times, when there were no clocks, an old dame kept a cock in her yard, which at dawn of day gave a loud crow, and then she got up to rouse her maids, that they might go to their work. But they thought it hard to be woke out of their sweet sleep at such an hour, so, one day, they wrung the cock’s neck. The next night the old dame slept till late, as she had not heard the cock crow; but when she found that he was dead, and that there was now no means by which to tell the time, she went at all hours of the night to wake up her maids, for fear they should sleep too long.

Strive to mend, and you will oft times mar what’s well.

Two goats that had been brought up in the same glen, left it, and by chance met on a bridge, which was a mere plank, and would not hold them both side by side. One of the fair ones set her foot on it, and her friend was not slow to do the same. They came up, step by step, till they met half way, and as they could not pass, and were both too proud to give in, each did her best to push by with a skip and jump, till at last the plank broke, and they both fell in, and were borne off by the stream.

It is not so bad to clear the way as to fall in the ditch.

Once on a time a man came to a wood to ask the trees if they would give him a stick for his ax. This was so small a boon to ask, that the chief trees said at once, “By all means, give him what he wants from a good tough ash.” But as soon as the man had made the stick fit the ax, he fell to work with it to hack and hew down all the best trees in the wood. The oak was heard to say, in sad tones to the beech, “The first step has lost us all. We gave up our poor friend the ash to the foe. But for this we might all have stood for an age to come; now we must take our sad fate for our pains.”

One dark night a thief came to a man’s house to rob it, and when the dog heard him he gave a loud bark. At this the man sprang from his bed to look out, but saw no one, nor did he hear the least sound, so he bade the dog be still, and then went back to sleep. The thief in the mean time had hid in the shed in a state of great fear; but when he found that the dog was bound by a chain, and did not now bark, he crept to the door of the house, and took out his bunch of false keys to try the lock. The dog saw him, and set up his loud bark, so the man of the house put his head out once more to look round [Pg 50] him, but as he saw no one, and found that all was now quite still, in a great rage he cries out, “Down, you brute! Down, I tell you! You will not let me have a wink of sleep!” So the dog left off, and in the mean time the thief made his way to the house, and took all that he could find. The next day when the man saw what had been done, he said, “This will teach me to give ear to the voice of a warm and true friend when he warns me.”

A fly and an ant came to words as to which stood first in rank. The fly said, “How can you place your mean state by the side of mine? Look how I soar up in the air, skip round the head of a king, and kiss the lips of a queen! I toil not, nor stoop to work, but live a life of ease. What is there you can have to say to this?” “Why,” quoth the ant, in a sharp tone, “to be made much of by kings and queens is a great thing, I grant, if they send for you, but not if they deem you a pest. In good sooth, I think it is but your small size that screens you from their wrath; and as to work, you will learn the use of it when the frost and snow pinch, and the cold winds blow, while I shall reap the fruits of my toil. To be free with you, I think you will find no pains, no gains.”

One tale is good, till the next is told.

[Pg 51]

THE FLY AND THE ANT.

A fox fell down a deep well, in the sides of which he stuck his claws, and so, for a while, kept his head up. A wolf came to take a peep down the well, and when the fox saw him, he said, “Oh, I beg of you to run for a rope, or some such thing, to pull me out, for I am at the point of death!” “Poor friend! you are in a sad strait,” said the wolf; “I grieve for you, with all my heart! How long have you been here?” “Nay,” said the fox, “if you wish me well, don’t stand there to say soft words to me, but get me some help, and that soon, or I must die.” The wolf then gave one more sigh, and went home, and the poor fox sank, to rise no more.

A long tongue hath a short hand.

The Wolf, and the Fox in the Well.—Page 52.

Æsop.

An old dame dwelt in a house that had such swarms of mice in it that she got a cat, who caught and ate them one by one. But in course of time all the mice kept on the top shelves to be out of the cat’s reach, and puss saw that at this rate she should starve. So she hit on a plan, which was to hang in a bag, by her hind legs, from a peg in the shelf, that she might pass for dead. The young mice took no heed of her, but the old ones gave a peep round the edge of the shelf, and said, “Ah, you sly thing! We see [Pg 54] you! Hang there as long as you please, but we would not trust a child of ours to go near you, though you were full of straw.”

Old birds are not caught with chaff.

The Cat and the Mice.—Page 52.

Æsop.

In the good old times, a man and his wife had a goose that each day of her life laid a gold egg; but they thought that one egg from the time the sun rose till he set was slow work, and in the hopes that they should seize all the eggs at once, they put the goose to death. But to their great grief they found that their goose was just the same as all geese. “Ah, my dear,” quoth the old man, “he who has much would have more.” “True,” said his wife, with a sigh, “and so comes to lose all.”

The Goose with the Gold Egg.—Page 54.

Æsop.

One day the fox had a mind to play the wag with the stork, and said, “You must come and dine with me to day, for I have had good luck, and the soup will be rich.” When the time came for them to dine, the stork found to her grief, that the dish in which the soup was put was so flat that she could but dip in the point of her bill, while the fox could lap it up with his tongue. “It grieves me,” [Pg 55] said he, “to see you make so poor a meal; I fear it is not to your mind.” The stork did not say much, but told her host that it was now his turn to come and dine with her. So he came, true to the hour. “Good day,” quoth the stork. “Now I hope you will feel that you are quite at home.” The smell of the stew was fine, but it was put in a jar with a thin neck, down which the stork thrust her long bill with ease, but all the fox could do was to lick the brim of it; and when the time came for him to take his leave, he made his bow with a bad grace. The stork told him that she had but paid him off in his own coin.

Tit for tat.

Good cat, good rat.

The Fox and the Stork.—Page 54.

Æsop.

Once on a time there was a daw, who was so vain that he must needs leave his old friends (the jacks), and go quite out of his sphere to pass for a jay. So he stuck the bright plumes that fell from those gay birds on his own back, that he might look like them. But they soon found him out, took off his plumes, fell on him with their sharp bills, and made him smart for his pride. Full of shame, he hung down his head, and once more went to flock with those of his own tribe, but they knew his vain ways too well, and told him they did not now choose to own him; and one of them said, “If you had been true to your own friends, you would not have had such hard cuts from those whom you have just left, nor would you have had to bear the slights which we now feel we must put on you.”

Some men sought out a hart for the chase, when one made a rush out of the wood, and hid from them in the shade of a thick vine, so that they quite lost sight of him. It was the best hide and seek that could be, and so thought the stag, but he hid not for sport, but for dear life. There he lay, still as a mouse. In a short time he took heart to browse on the leaves of the vine, which [Pg 57] hung so green and fresh just at his nose. He saw no harm in one more crop, and then one more, till he quite lost sight of what he had come there for. More than this, he so shook the tree when he took a bite, that he drew the eyes of the men to the spot, and as the vine was now too thin of leaves to hide him, they shot at him, and he fell down dead.

Where the hedge is thin, men will see through it.

Two owls sat on the branch of a tree. “How strange is it,” said one of them, “that in the old days of Greece, men best knew our worth, for owls were then thought to [Pg 58] be the type of all that is wise.” “Not so,” said the wren, who heard them, “and if you were less vain, you would know well that in those days men wore owls on their shields to show that they should not judge by mere looks. If they did, they would take an owl to be a wise bird; for, though he has but a small wit, he has a large head.”

A man who had been in all parts of the world told his old friends when he came home of the great feats he had done. These tales they at first heard with great glee; but in time they found out that he shot with a long bow, nay, more than this, that he told lies, and when he once did that, he set less and less guard on his tongue, till he made those who heard him stare. “How comes it,” said they, “that this man, who when at home could boast of no great feats, should, when he goes to strange lands, do such great things?” One day he told them that there was no place in the world where men leapt like the men at Rhodes; “but I beat them all,” said he, “for I took a leap there of two score yards.” A grave old man, who sat near him, said with a sneer, “Sir, if your tale be true, think this place to be Rhodes, and, to prove your words, take the leap once more.” The man kept his seat, and had no more to say.

A dog once made his bed on some hay in a stall, and an ox, who was much in want of food, came near to eat some of it. Up sprang the fierce cur, with a growl and a snarl, and would not let him touch it. At this the ox said, “Fie on thee, thou cur! Thou dost not feed on hay, yet, in thy spite, thou must needs stand in the way of those who do.” With this, a man on the farm took the dog up by the neck, and laid his whip on his back till he ran off in shame.

A wolf that was in search of food, was seen to prowl near a house where he heard a child cry, and its nurse chide it in these words—“Now leave off at once, or I will throw you out of doors to the wolf!” So the wolf sat near the house for a long time in the hopes that he should see her words made good. At last the child, worn out by its cries, fell off to sleep. In a short time the wolf heard the nurse say, “There’s a good dear then; if the fierce old wolf comes for my babe, we will beat him to death, we will.” The wolf now thought it high time to be off, and said, as he went, “If folk say that which they do not mean at one hour, and mean that which they do not say the next, what can a child or a wolf think of it?”

The Nurse and the Wolf.—Page 60.

Æsop.

Once on a time an old dame that was blind sent for Dr. Dash to cure her. She told him that if he brought back her sight he should have a large fee, but that if he did not cure her, he was to have no fee at all. Well, day by day Dr. Dash made his call on the dame, and one by one he took off all her goods. At last, when he had swept the house clear of them, he set to work on the case, and made a cure of it; so once more, to her great joy, the old dame could see. “I must ask you for my [Pg 61] fee,” said Dr. Dash; but the dame put him off from time to time, and did not pay him. At last he went to law; and when she came to the court, she spoke thus to the judge: “What Dr. Dash tells you is quite true, in so far as I said I would give him a large fee if he brought back my sight. Now, then, he tells me my eyes are well, but I say they are not; for till my bad sight had come on, I could see all sorts of goods in my house, while now, when he tells me he has made a cure of my eyes, I can see none there; and I think, my lord, that he who plays tricks ought to take a joke!”

A dog and a cock had been in a wood, and as night came on, they went to rest. The cock flew on the bough of a tree to roost, while the dog slept in a hole in the trunk of it. At break of day the cock set up a loud shrill crow, which was heard by a fox, who soon ran to the place whence the sound came, and said, “Let me beg of you to fly down, that I may greet you, and praise you for so sweet a song.” “I would first ask you,” said the cock, “to wake up my friend, who lies in the trunk of this tree.” “By all means,” quoth the fox, who thought he should find a nest, with the hen and her young chicks in it; so he thrust his head in the hole, and was torn to death by the dog, who said, with a loud bark, “Paid in his own coin.”

The Cock, the Dog, and the Fox.—Page 61.

Æsop.

In days of old a horse came to drink at a pond, when he saw that a boar lay in the mud at the edge, which made the pool thick and foul. Fierce neighs and grunts were soon heard, and but for the fear the horse had of the boar’s huge tusks, they would have fought. At last the horse found a man to help him, who soon made a bit and a rein, took his bow, got on his back, and off they both set. The boar, struck with awe at so strange a sight, ran off as fast as he could, but the horse soon came up to him, and the man shot him dead. Now that there was no cause for fear, the horse would fain be once more free; so he said, “I pray thee take off this rein.” “Nay, that I will not do, my friend,” quoth the man; “for now that I have found out thy use, I will keep thee to ride on.”

A man may beat the bush, and his friend catch the bird.

The beasts once chose an ape for their king. From morn till night he would play all his droll tricks to please them, and they could not rest till they had put him on a throne, with a king’s crown on his head. They did all they could to swell his pomp, and the beasts took him to be as wise as he was great—all but the fox, who knew what a bad choice they had made. One day, as the fox [Pg 63] was on his way to the court, he saw a trap in a ditch with nuts, figs, and dates for a bait. He told the ape of all these good things, and said that as they were found on a piece of waste land, they were the king’s by right. The ape, who did not dream of fraud, went to claim them; but as soon as he had laid his paw on the bait, he was caught in the trap. Stung with rage and pain, he gave the fox all the hard names he could think of; but all the fox said was, “Are you a king, and not up to trap?”

By chance a mouse made friends with a frog, who spent his life for the most part in a pool. The frog one day, by way of sport, bound the foot of the mouse to his own, and step by step led him to the pool in which he spent most of his time, till at last he got to the brink, when he gave a leap which took them both in the midst of the pond. The frog, who was fond of a swim, went now here, now there, with a croak which would seem to say that all was right, and that he thought he had done a great feat. But the poor mouse could not stand it long, as the dry ground was his home, and he was soon seen to float on the pool quite dead, but still bound fast to the frog. By and by a hawk stuck his claws in the mouse, and flew off with him; but the frog, who could not get loose from the mouse, had to share the same fate, and the hawk made a meal of both.

Harm hatch, harm catch.

The Frog, the Mouse, and the Hawk.—Page 63.

Æsop.

A man who kept a small farm came to the house of a judge. “Well, my man,” said the judge, “what do you come to me for?” “If you please, my lord, I have a sad tale to tell.” “Ha, the old tale! You folk with your small farms fall out, and then you come to plague me.” “Nay, my lord, this time it is with you and me. I have a bull that breaks out of his bounds, and he has got to your best field of corn, and has spoilt half of it; now I want to know what you would have me do in this case?” “Well, I must say you are a staunch old man to come and tell me of it, and I shall send my man John to look at the waste, and what he says it comes to you must pay. As to your bull, as you say he breaks out of his bounds, you must kill him, and that at once.” “Bless my heart!” said the man, “what was it I told you? I have but two small cows in the world. No, it was that red bull of yours, my lord, which locks and bars will not keep in; it is he that breaks through the fence of my corn field, and fine work he has made of it; but as you say you will send your man to make things right, I thank you, and take my leave.” “No,” said the judge, “you must not play me such a trick as this. I would not part with that red bull for all the world, and as to the field of corn, of course you must take your chance.”

The law will catch small flies, but wasps will break through.

We weigh not in the same scale the ills we do and the ills we feel.

A pack of hounds drove a poor stag out of a wood, and in a great fright he made off to a farm that was near, and hid in a heap of straw in an ox’s stall. “What can have brought you to such a place as this, where you are sure to meet with your doom?” said the ox. “Oh,” cries the stag, “if you will but help to hide me for a while, I shall do well, and by and by I will move off.” It grew dusk, and the men on the farm came in and out, but did not see the stag, so he now thought it time to leave. “Nay,” quoth the ox, “wait a while; there is the man who owns the farm to come yet, and should he pass this way, I would not give the straw you hide in for your life.” While the ox spoke, the man came up and cast his eyes on the stag, and made a prize of him. “That is a bad game,” said he, “where none wins.”

The Stag in the Ox’s Stall.—Page 65.

Æsop.

A fox, who was a great rogue, fell down a deep well. Just then, a goat came up who had a mind to slake his thirst, so he said to the fox, “Is the well a sweet one?” “Sweet!” says the fox; “it is the best well I have drunk from for along time. Come and try it.” At this the goat leapt in; and the fox—who put his feet on the goat’s horns—sprang out, and said, “If you had as much brain as you have beard, you would ‘Look ere you leap,’ for

The poor goat put his head up, and said, “True, I see too late that I have lent you a stick to break my own head with.”

The Goat and the Fox in the Well.—Page 66.

Æsop.

A wolf one day brought a fox up to the Bench for theft. The ape, who was the judge, knew well that both were knaves; so he said, “I know you well of old, my friends; and as I wish to be just, I shall lay the same fine on both of you: on you, Sir Wolf, for you have no right to bring the charge; and on you, Sir Fox, for there can be no doubt that the charge is a true one.”

Set a thief to catch a thief.

A fox and a cat once met on a heath, and had a long chat on things of state. The fox said, “Let the war turn out as bad as it may, it is all one to me, for I have lots of plans by which to save my life. But now, pray tell me, puss, if the foe should come, what course do you mean to take?” “Nay,” says the cat, “I have but one shift, and if that will not do, I am lost.” Just then a pack of hounds came on them in full cry. Puss, by the help of her one trick, ran up a tree, from the top branch of which she saw that the fox, who had not the skill to get out of sight, was torn to death by the hounds. “Great boast, small roast,” quoth the cat, “but he plays well that wins.”

The Fox and the Cat.—Page 67.

Æsop.

Two mules were once on the road, one of which had bags of gold on his back, and rang his bells with a proud toss of the neck, as if he felt vain of his load; and one took but sacks of grain, and hung down his head as he trod the way. They had not gone far, when three thieves, who lay in wait for them in a wood close by, ran out, took the bags of gold from off the back of the mule, and put him to death, as well as the men with him. But the mule who was the drudge stood quite safe, and said he should count the scorn in which he was held as so much gain, for he was best off in the end.

In the good old times there was a brave knight who had lost all his hair, and wore a wig. As he rode in the hunt a gust of wind blew his wig off, and a loud laugh rang forth from those who saw his bald pate. When the knight found his wig was in the air, he, of course, felt much put out, for it was his false hair that made him look young; but he thought the best way to pass it off would be to take the laugh in his own hands; so he said, “How could I hope to keep strange hair on my head, when my own would not stay there!”

He must stoop that has a low door.

There was a man who in time of war took great pains with his horse, and fed him on as much corn and hay as he could eat. But when the war was at an end all he gave him was chaff, and he put him to draw great loads of wood; in short, made a slave and a drudge of him. When the war broke out once more, and there was a call to arms, the man, clad in his coat of mail, sprang on the back of his steed, and went off to join the fight. But soon the horse fell down with all his weight of steel. “You must now go to the war on foot,” said he; “for if you turn me from a horse to an ass, how can you think that I can all at once turn from an ass to a horse?”

Once on a time a wolf put on a sheep’s skin, by which means he got shut in the fold at night. By and by the man of the farm came in to kill one of his flock for food, and as luck would have it, he chose out the wolf. But when he saw how it was, he put a rope round his neck, and hung him to the branch of a tree. Some folks who came by said, “What! do you hang sheep?” “No,” said the man, “but I hang a wolf when I can catch him, though in the garb of a sheep.”

You may find more than one face in a hood.

A man made a great feast, and his dog Tray said to Gyp, who was a great friend of his, “Come and sup with us to-night. Eight o’clock is the time; but if you are there an hour too soon, you will find there is much to be done.” Gyp lay in the sun a while, to wink and wait. He thought of fish, flesh, and fowl, tripe and toast, and made a feast in his heart that might grace a bill of fare for a king. At length the time came, and he set off to the cook’s room, where he found all hands hard at work. Gyp went with a skulk, now here, now there; gave a peep at this dish, and smelt at that, and with a wag of his tail, as much as to say, “O rare! What a feast have I in store!” This wag of the tail brought the eyes of the cook on him, and he said, “How now? what’s this I spy? [Pg 71] A cur! who let him in? A nice sort of guest, to be sure. I shall soon pack you off.” The cook then brought poor Gyp to view, and threw him out at the back door.

There’s oft a slip ’twixt cup and lip.

The wind and the sun once came to high words as to which had the most strength. Just then by chance a man came by, so they let the point rest on this, that he who got this man’s cloak off first, should win the day. The wind was the first to try, and he blew with all his might and main a fierce blast; but the man wrapt his cloak all the more close round him. Next came the sun, who broke out with his warm beams, and cast his bright rays on the man, till at length he grew faint with the heat, and was glad to part with his cloak, which he flung to the ground.

Kind means are best.

Once on a time a horse and an ass went on the high road, side by side, and the man who kept them went on foot. The poor ass had told the horse that if he would share the load with him he should soon get well; but that if he did not lend him some help, the weight of it would kill him. But the horse took no heed of this, and bade him go on, till from the weight of the load he fell down dead. When the man found the poor ass was dead, he put the load on the back of the horse, and the dead ass too.

One may bear till his back break.

Once on a time, as a blind man went on his way, he came to a bad part of the road, and knew not how to get on. By chance a lame man sat on a bank near, so the blind man said to him, “Hark you to what I say. I have thought of a plan which will help us both on our way—my feet shall be thy feet, and thine eyes shall be mine.” “With all my heart,” said the lame man; and off they set. “Stop,” said he, “I see a purse that lies on the road, and if you go straight on, and then turn to the left, you will come to it.” This the blind man did, and at last he took it up. “Give it to me,” said the lame man, who was on the blind man’s back. “Not so,” said his friend; “but [Pg 74] for my feet you would not have come so far, so now I shall keep it.” “Nay,” said the lame man; “but for my sight you would not have known it was there.”

All keys hang not on one bunch.

THE BLIND MAN AND THE LAME MAN.

One day a hog, an ox, a cow, a dog, and a sheep all met in a straw yard. The hog told the rest that he thought that beast stood first in rank who was kept most for his own sake, and not for the sake of the work that he did. “Now, which of you,” said he, “can boast of this so well as I can?” To the horse he spoke first. “As for you, though you are well fed, and have grooms to wait on you, and make you sleek and clean, yet all this is for the sake of your work. Do not I see the man on the farm take you out at break of day, put you in chains, or bind you fast to the shafts of a cart with a load in it, and keep you out till noon? Then, in the space of an hour does he not take you to work once more till dusk? I may say just the same of the ox, save that he does not work for such good fare.” To the cow he spoke next: “You, who are so fond of your straw and grains, you are thought worth your cost for your milk, which they drain from you twice a day; and your young ones, who should by right have the milk, are torn from you to go no one knows where.” Then thus spoke he to the sheep: “They turn you out to shift as well as you can on the bare hills. [Pg 75] You pay dear for your keep, for you have to part with your warm coats once a year, and at night starve with the cold. As for the dog, he has to keep watch all the live long night, while the rest of us are wrapt in soft sleep. In short, you are all slaves, kept for use; while I, on my part, have a warm sty, with food close to my snout, all day and free of cost. All they want from me is to see me eat my food from the trough, bask in the sun, and live at my ease.” Thus spoke the hog. But in a short time the frost set in, and, as it was a bad time for all kinds of food, the man was in great straits to keep his live stock till the spring. “How can I feed them all?” thought he. “I must part with those I can best spare. As for my horse and ox, I shall have work for them—they must be kept, cost what it will. My cows will not give much milk in the frost, it may be, but they will calve in the spring, and will thrive in the new grass; the sheep will do as long as there is a blade on the hills; and if a deep fall of snow should come, I must give them hay, for I count on their wool to make out my rent with. But my hog will eat me out of house and home; so, as he yields naught, I must kill him at once.”

A drum was heard to boast, in these words, to a vase of sweet herbs, “Hark at my loud, strong tone which rends the sky. When men hear my voice they march to arms, and join the fight with joy!” “Be not too proud,” [Pg 76] said the vase; “as for me, I grant you there is a chain on my lips. I speak not, but I am full of good things, while thou hast naught in thee but noise, and must be struck to give it out.”

In the days of yore the frogs met to beg of Jove to send them a king. So he threw them a log, and said, “There’s a king for you—a good, mild one!” Well, King Log came on the pond with such a splash, that the frogs took fright at him. Some sought the mud, and some the reeds; and, for a long time, there was not one that would dare to take a peep. By and by, when they saw that King Log lay quite still, they said, “See, he sleeps!” Some came round him, and up to him, till, one by one they leapt on his back, and at last held him quite in scorn. So, with harsh croaks, they beg of Jove to change him for one with more life; in short, a king that would move. Jove then sent them an eel, and he, too, was too tame for them; and, a third time, they ask of Jove to choose for them a king with more strength of will. This time, he sent them a stork, who, day by day, made the frogs his prey, till there were none left to croak on the lake, save one, and he shook his head, and said, “If we had had the sense to keep well, there would have been no need to mend our state. Now we have found to our loss what we did not seek.”

Set not the Fox to keep the Geese.

The Frogs and their King—Page 76.

Æsop.

A wolf saw a plump stag, and thought, How can I feast on his flesh? Then he drew near, and said, “All hail be to thee!” and made friends with the stag. “Hey day! whom have you here?” quoth a crow that flew by. The stag told him that he was a good wolf. “Have a care!” said the crow; “trust him not.” Yet the stag took no heed of his words, but let the wolf lead him at night to feed in a field that had a crop of ripe wheat in it. Now, there was a trap in the field, and the poor stag was caught by the feet. “This is well,” thought the wolf; “for when his flesh is cut up, the bones, and what is left, will be for me.” The crow flew to the spot, but could give his friend no aid. The next day the man who set the snare came with a knife in his hand to kill the stag. “If you care for your life,” quoth the crow, “lie quite still, and seem to be dead; but when I give a caw, start up at once, and take to your heels as fast as you can.” So the stag lay down quite stiff, held his breath, and shut his eyes. When the man came up, he thought the stag was dead, and took him from the toils, and went a few steps off to fold up the net, when the crow’s voice was heard, and the stag ran off at full speed. In the mean time the wolf came up to seek for his feast, and was slain by the man.

Bad faith is like to fall back on the head of those who make use of it.

An old man had a field, and when he fell ill, he sent for his three sons, that he might take leave of them, and give them his last charge. “My sons,” said he, “there is one thing which, with my last breath, I charge you to do, and that is, to seek out a rich gift which I have left you, and which you will find in my field—” Here the poor old man’s voice grew faint, and his head sank down on his breast in death. The sons were in too much grief for their loss to put in force that which the old man had bade them do, till want drove them to seek for what they thought must be a hoard of gold in the field; so they made a search from end to end of it, till there was not a clod they did not turn, in the hunt. At last they gave it up. “It is strange that the old man should have set us on this long search for a thing that is not here,” said Jack. “Come,” said Dick, “since we have gone through so much [Pg 80] toil on the field, we may as well sow it with corn, and so make the most of it.” At this bright thought they set to work to sow the grain, and in due time a crop sprang up, five times as large as those crops which grew there in the old man’s time. The thought now struck the youths that this was the wealth the old man meant, and that it was his wish that they should earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.

Seek till you find, and you will not lose by the toil.

In the trunk of an old elm tree dwelt a large bird of prey, with claws blunt, and eyes blind with age. The rooks fed him from their own store, while he, on his part, took charge of their young ones when the old birds went in search of food. One day, a cat—“Long Ear” by name—came to prey on the young rooks, who, when they saw her, gave a loud scream. The old hawk heard it, and said, “Who is that?” “I am a cat,” said “Long Ear.” “Ha!” quoth the hawk, “Cats love flesh, and the young rooks dwell here—that’s all I know. Get you gone at once, or I will put you to death!” “Not so,” said the cat. “I eat no meat now; and all the beasts of the field and the birds of the air love me—for I am good. I pray of you to let me stay, for you are old and wise, and can teach me much.” By this praise sly puss made the old hawk put his trust in her, so he let her stay in the trunk [Pg 81] of the tree. Day by day she ate some of the young birds, and took all the bones that were left from the feast to a hole in the stem of the old elm tree, that the death of the young rooks might be laid to the charge of the hawk. The old birds were in great grief for the loss of their young ones; and when they saw the bones in the hole of the tree, they of course laid the blame on the hawk, and they all flew at the poor old bird and put him to death. He said with his last breath, “Ah me! How much worse than a foe is a false friend!”

A cock stood on the top of a rick, and gave a loud crow. A fox, who saw him, thought he would just do for a meal; but though the cock could fly down to him, he could not climb up to the cock; so he said, “Have you heard the news?”

Cock.—What news?

Fox.—Peace has been sworn by bird and beast.

Cock.—Do you say so? Let me hear how it came to pass.

Fox.—Well, the birds and the beasts have met, and have sworn a truce. We are now quite safe by night and day. The wolf will no more tear the lamb, nor the fox kill the kid; the cat will not catch the mice, nor the dog bark at the sheep; and from this time all will live in peace: so come down, that I may wish you joy on this new state of things. [Pg 82]

The cock did not say much, but gave his neck a stretch, and made a feint that he saw some foe at hand.

Fox.—What is it you see?

Cock.—Why, I think I see a pack of hounds. No doubt they come this way to tell the good news.

Fox.—Oh, then, I must be gone!

Cock.—No; pray, sir, do not go; I am just on the point of a flight down to you. You can have no fear of dogs in this time of peace.

Fox.—Why, no—no—but—ten to one they have not heard the news.

Cock.—If the sky falls, we shall catch larks. You might as well try to make me think the moon is made of green cheese!

A wolf had a bone that stuck in his throat, and gave him so much pain, that he ran with a howl, up and down, to ask all whom he met to lend him a kind hand, and said he would give a large sum to bird or beast who would take it out. At last a crane, who heard of the bribe, came up, put her long bill down the wolf’s throat, and drew out the bone. The crane then said, “Now, where is the fee which you spoke of?” “Wretch that you are!” said the wolf, “to ask for more than this—that you should put your head in a wolf’s mouth, and bring it safe out!”

A bribe walks in, and gives no knock.

The Wolf and the Stork.—Page 82.

Æsop.

One day an old owl, who sat in a dark barn, had a call from a jay. The owl sat quite still in his nook, save when he saw a mouse, and did not speak a word, so that the jay had all the talk. When he had thus spent an hour or so, he took his leave, full of glee, with a heart as gay as his plumes, and said as he went that he must love that dear old owl, and that he did not know when he had had a chat to cheer him up so much.

If you wish to please your friend, sit still, and let him talk.

A child that was at play in a field, by chance trod on a snake which stung him to death. The nurse, in a great rage, hit the snake a blow which struck off his tail. The next day she came to the snake’s hole to coax him with some salt and meal, that she might kill him. “I pray thee come forth,” said the nurse, “and let us make it up on both sides”; but she could in no way get the snake to leave his hole. All he would do was to give a hiss, and tell her that as long as she thought of the dead child, and he thought of the tail, they could not be friends.

He who does you a wrong is sure not to love you.

A poor lark was kept in a cage that hung on a wall, in a town that was full of dust and dirt. One day, as he stood on his piece of dead turf, to trill out his sweet song, a finch, who by chance flew that way, said, “How canst thou sing so blithe a strain, shut up in that vile cage?” “Finch, finch,” rang out the lark, in his clear tones, “know you not that if I did not sing while I am shut up here, I should fail to call to mind my song, when the time came for me to mount up to the sky?”

A hot day in June drove a poor ant to take a sip from a clear brook, when she fell in, and went down with the stream. A dove that sat in a tree close by saw the ant fall, so she threw a leaf down to her in the brook, which the ant clung to, and so was brought safe to land. In a few days from this time, the ant saw a man take aim with his bow to shoot the dove, and, just in the nick of time, she stung him on the heel. This made him give a start, and spoilt his aim, so that the dove flew off safe and sound.

Live, and let live.

One day, as a young maid went down the road with her pail of milk on her head, she was heard to say, “This pail of milk will fetch me so much, which sum I will lay out in eggs; these eggs will bring a score of chicks, and they will be fit to sell just at the time when fowls bear a good price; so that on May day I shall have a new gown. Let me see,—yes, green will suit me best, and green it shall be. In this dress I will go to the fair, and all who are there will pay their court to me; but with a proud look I shall turn from them.”

Wrapt in this dream of joy, she gave a toss of the head to suit the words, when down came the pail of milk, and with it the eggs, the chicks, the green gown, and all the bright thoughts of what she would do at the fair.

Count not your chicks till they are out of the shell. Each “may be” hath a “may not be.”

A hare that was known to be good and kind was a friend to all the beasts of the field. One day the hounds caught sight of her, and gave her such a hard chase that at last she lay quite faint by the side of the road. To her great joy a horse came by. “Let me mount you,” said she, “and the hounds will then be thrown off the scent.” “Poor Puss,” said the horse, with a sigh, “it makes me sad to see you thus; but look up—all your friends are near.” She next sought aid from the bull. “I would lend you help, and be sure I wish you well,” said he; “but I am the head of the herd, and I must now join it.” The goat, who came next, said, “I fear my coat is too rough for you; there’s the sheep with his soft wool.” But the sheep told her that she was too weak to bear her weight, and that hounds eat sheep as well as hares. A young calf was the poor hare’s last chance, and he said, “If those who have gone by, who are grown up, did not help you, what good can I do, who am but young and weak?” Just then the hounds came in sight, and the calf ran off, and left the poor hare to her fate. “Ah!” said she, “friends are like bees: on bright days they swarm, but when clouds shut out the sun they are not to be found, though sought.”

When your friend is in want, lose no time, but help him.

Once on a time there was a man who had a pet dog, of which he was so fond that he let him eat from his own plate, and sit on his knee. The same man kept an ass that drew wood all day, and had to take his turn at the mill at night. “What a hard fate is mine!” said he; “I work night and day, while the lap dog leads a life of ease. No doubt my lord would get as fond of his ass as he is of his dog, if I could but win him by the same tricks.”

At this thought he broke from the stall, set off to the room where the man was, sprang to his face to lick it, and gave a loud bray in his ear. But now the ass had gone too far with his rough play; for the men of the farm came in with clubs, sticks, and staves to beat him.

THE END.

12 Titles. Handsome Illuminated Cloth Binding.

A series of Classics, selected specially for young people’s reading, and told in simple language for youngest readers. Printed from large type, with many illustrations.

AESOP’S FABLES.

ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES.

BIBLE HEROES.

GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES.

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS.

LIFE OF CHRIST.

LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS.

PILGRIM’S PROGRESS.

REYNARD THE FOX.

ROBINSON CRUSOE.

SANFORD AND MERTON.

SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON.

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publisher, A. L. BURT, 52-58 Duane Street, New York.