IILL US TR A TED
B~Y JOHN TENNIEL.
AS(0P)P'S FA'M;Lg8.
X*''{:/ ii
BY~~~~~~~~~~~~~'I JO HNLPr~ TENNI L. r




TO
TRE  3L0S   A,3 3) LTE AIT    FAFL3ES  0F (i PO
IN  the days of Crcesus._King of Lydia, when Arnasis
vas Pharaoh of Egypt, and Peisistratus lorded it over the
kthenians-between five and six hundred years before the:hristian era-lived iEsopus, no inapt representative of the
Treat social and intellectual movement of the age which he
dorned.
Born a slave, with no outward circumstances of fortune?) recommend him to the notice of the great, he forced his
tray by his mother-wit into the courts of princes, and laid'le foundation of a fame, more universal, and perhaps more,sting in its influence, than that of all the Seven Wise Men,}f Greece, his worthy contemporaries.
Up to this time, whatever wisdom from without had guided
Ihe councils of princes, had been derived from the traditionary
ore of courts, or frorm the verses of bards, hallowed by time,,r impromptued for the occasion.  Writing was as yet only
mown in the inscription on the public marble, or on the




iv                    INTRODUCTION.
private tablet. Religion and History were handed down from
mouth to mouth, and, the better to be remembered, were
committed to metre. With the sixth century before Christ
commences the era of Written Classic Literature. The great
convulsion of the Eastern nations, and the first direct and
sustained intercourse of the Oriental with the Grecian mind,
tended to call forth all, the latent energies of either people.
New combinations of governments, and strange commixtureq,
of races, required new systems of politics, and more stringen't
and definite laws. Hence this is the age of Wise Men an.l
of Prose.  Even wealthy Crcesus discovered that knowledge,
was power, and assembled around him from every nation all
who had gained a reputation for superior wisdom.
The flights of imagination began to give way to the serious:
business of life.  It was an age of grave talkers, and inquisi.
tive travellers,-of gathering the works of the great Poets to
preserve the wisdom of antiquity, and of collecting facts for
the use of the new order of things. Distinctions of birt'
and country were less heeded, and Wit was listened to -ee,, i
from the lips of a foreign slave. It was even able to.~ti'ai-.
cipate itself, not only from  the bondage of custom, but frrctn
actual bodily slavery, and AEsop came to the court of Cjrltu,
from his old master Iadmon, a free man-working his a:? v
to fame by a more honorable road than that of his eail':.
servant "Rhodopis the Fair," the celebrity of whose b-eaut3y
and wealth at suen a time, tells in a word how  sh:n;ta.-,q
abused the one, and acquired the other.*  iEsop's famuh-dacl
probably preceded him, but less as a Sage than as a Yi;'.
* Herod. II. 134, 135.




INTRODUCTION.                        V
He seems a stepping-stone between the poetry which had
gone before, and the prose that followed, making the politics
and morals of the day his study, but clothing his lectures in
the garb of Imagination and Fancy.  There is no doubt that
he quickly grew in favor with Crcesus by the mode in which
he imparted his knowledge.  While Solon held the schoolmaster's rod over the philosophical monarch, zEsop conciliated
alike his will and his reason by timely drollery and subtlyconveyed advice.* To this freedom from avowed dictation,
was added a little well-directed flattery. He knew, that tc
be tolerated in courts, he must speak to please, or not speak
at all;t and when all the Seven Sages had given judgment
the Phrygian was sometimes set down as a better man thai.
they all.:
If we should hence look upon him as little more than a
court-jester, we shall be doing him great wrong. He came
to amuse, but he remained to instruct; and Crcesus probably learnt more home-truths from  his fictions,~ than from
all the serious disquisitions of his retained philosophers
Wherever he went he lifted up his voice in the same strain.
At Corinth he warned his hearers against mob-law, in a fable
which Socrates afterwards turned into verse.dl At Athens, by
the recital of " The Frogs and Jupiter," he gave a lesson both
to) prince and people.~  His visit to Delphi seems to have had
* Harowv v arovja. —Agathixe Epigr. ap. Brunk.
t Js    q niara 77 4 M&tra.-Plutar. vit. Sol. p. 94.
$ piaXxov 6b'p3. Suid. in voc.-Apostolius Cent. XII. adag.
~ c0o00oir Pv0oL Kai rrXajaot Kaipa Xl-`a5.-Agath. Epigr.
{{ Plat. Pheed. c. 12.-Diog. Laert. II. 42.
Plhwdr.. 2.




VI                     INTILODUCTION.
less of a political object. He was,ent as a commissioner by
Crcesus to distribute some payment due to the Delphians,*
and in the discharge of this duty incurred the displeasure of
the citizens of that world's-centre,_-whose character seems
to have been at all times but little in accordance with the
sacred privileges they assumed. Probably even more from
fear of his wit than. from  displeasure at his award,-and,
judging from the event, without any plea of justice, —the
Delphians raised against him the vulgar cry, too often successful, of impiety and sacrilege. For once his ready weapon
failed in its effect.  He is said to have appealed to their
reverence for the laws of hospitality, by the fable of " The
Eagle and the Beetle," the germ probably of the existing
story: but he appealed in vain   Their craft was in danger;
and the enraged guardians of the temple of the great God of
Greece, hurled the unfortunate fable-maker headlong from  one
of the Pheedrian precipices.t
He was not unavenged.  Plagues cursed the scene of his
murder, and the conscience-smitten Delphians, many years
afterwards, seeing in their calamities, as well they might, a
punishment for their evil deed, proclaimed, again and again,
their readiness to give compensation for his death to any one
who could prove a title to the self-imposed fine.  No other
claimant appearing, it was awarded at length to Iadmon, the
grandson of Iadmon of Hephoestopolis, zEsop's old master.{
The proverb of "'_Esop's blood," in after-times gave warning
* Aristoph. Vesp. 1446.-Schol. ad loc.
j Babrii. frag. ap. Apollon.-Suid. v. Q(Iadpca;.
T Jierod. II. 134.




INTLRODUCTION.                     V',
to his countrymen, that a murdered man's blood will not cry
to heaven in vain.*
There are no further authentic notices of zEsop's life, but
there are abundant proofs of the estimation in which his
words were held by the Athenians for many generations
afterwards. To be able to tell a good story of iLEsop at the
club, was an indispensable accomplishment of an Athenian
gentleman; and he who had not got zEsop's Fables at his
fingers' ends was looked upon as an illiterate dunce.t Indeed,
to such an excess did this fickle and news-loving people run
after an /Esopean fable, that there is no weakness of theirs
more severely lashed than this by their satirists both in verse
and prose.  His practical wisdom  was, however, as much
regarded as his caustic humor; and the common tradition,
that he appeared alive again and fought at Thermopylae, tells
more for the honor in which he was held as a patriot than a
hundred authentic anecdotes.:
About two hundred years after his death, a statue of
AEsop, the workmanship of Lysippus, was erected at Athens,
and was placed in front of the statues of the Seven Sages.~
The ridiculous particulars of his life and person, as they
are commonly given, are but a compilation, made in the
middle ages, of sorry jokes borrowed from various quarters,
with enough of older fact and tradition to give them a sort
of plausible consistency.   The whole has been attributed
* Aito7rELov L/ aa. Zonaras. p. 90.    f Aristoph. Vesp. 1260. Av. 471.: Suid. vv. Ai'wrJo.-L-L/hl.va..  ~ Phaedr. II. Ep. Agath. Epigr.




Vi11                  INTRODUCTION.
to the imagination of Planudes, a monk of the fourteenth
century; but there seems little reason for believing that he
did more than collect what he found already made to his
hand.
]Esop's personal deformity and swarthy complexion have
not the slightest testimony from  ancient authority.  The
negative evidence, which in this case is strong, tells all the
other way; though Bentley has carried his argument rather
too far in trying hence to prove that he must have been
remarkably handsome.*  The oldest authority in which his
person is mentioned speaks of his face and voice as contributing as much as his stories to the amusement of his company.t
It is not to be supposed that ]AEsop was absolutely the
inventor of Fable.j Under this form, more or less developed,
the earliest knowledge of every nation-at least of every
Eastern nation-has been handed down. Poverty of language
would, in the first instance, necessitate the use of metaphor,
and the simile would follow, not far removed from parable
and fable. The more intimate acquaintance with the habits
of wild beasts, natural to an uncivilized life, would also
suggest illustrations to be drawn from the ways of the wily
fox, the timid deer, the noble lion; while a closer intercourse
with them, even though that of enmity, would be apt to
attribute not only human passions, but motives and feelings;
and hence, speech.
In later times, when neither kings nor mobs would bear
* Dissert.,Es. Works, v. II. p. 2836.  f IHimer. Orat. XIII.
t Babr. proem. II. 1.




INTRODUCTION.                    
to look upon naked Truth, recourse to the style of printitive
wisdom furnished an effective garb wherewith to clotle it.
It flattered, by its appeal to national antiquity, and by3exercising, without tasking, intellectual acuteness.   Thus
Fable was not, in those times, a child's plaything, but a
nation's primer.  Tyranny and rebellion were alike stayed
by this only word of the wise that passion would listen to.
Very different in its nature from the old Myth, it was
not the result of p)rofound contemplative philosophy in a
popular garb, but it was the off-hand, ready-made weapon
of a man of action,-one who united presence of mind with
presence of wit,-who saw his opportunity and knew how to
use it.
The oldest Fable on record which we know to have been
thus practically applied, is that of "The Trees and the
Bramble," as found in Holy Writ.*  When the Israelites,
discontented at not having an earthly sovereign, had allowed
Abimelech, the base son of Gideon, to usurp a kingly
authority over them, Jotham, whose better claims had been
passed over by them, addressed them in the fable of
THE TREES AND THE BRAMBLE.
The Trees went forth on a time to anoint a- king over them;
and they said unto the Olive-tree: "Reign thou over us;"
but the Olive-tree said unto them, " Should I leave my fatness,
wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go to be
* Judges ix. 7.




X.                    INT RODUCTION.
npromoted over the trees?"  And the trees said to the Figtree: "Come thou and reign  over us;" but the Fig-tree
said unto them: "Should I forsake my sweetness and my
good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?" Then
said the trees unto the Vine: "Come thou and reign over
us;" and  the Vine said unto them: "Should I leave my
wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted
over the trees?"  Then said all the trees unto the Bramble:
"Come thou and reign over us:" and the Bramble said unto
the trees: "If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then
come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let
fire come out of the Bramble, and devour the Cedars of
Lebanon."
No less effective was Nathan's parable of " The Ewe-lamb"
addressed to King David, with its terrible application, " THOU
ART THE MAN.
In like manner Fables effected their work in the politics of
Greece. The citizens of Himera were warned by Stesichorus
against the encroachments of the tyrant Phalaris, by the
recital of "The Horse and the Stag."t  A timely lesson was
given to Peisistratus and the Athenians by the fable of "The
Frogs and Jupiter."I The Samians, when tlley would have
put to death one who had battened upon the public treasury,
were checked by iEsop's introduction of " The Fox and the
Hedgehog." ~ When the Ionians, who had rejected a previous
* II. Sam. xii.    f Arist. Rhet. II. 20.  t Phldr. I. 2.
~ Arist. Rhet. II. 20;-afterwards applied by Tiberius to the extortionate prefects
of tile Roman provinces.




INTLODU C'iO 0N                    Xi
invitation of Cyrus to join him, sent ambassadors to him after
hlis success, offering him terms, the indignant conqueror gave
them  no other reply  than the story of "The Fisherman
piping."*   Demosthenes turned  the  pliant mined  of the
Athenians when they were ready to betray him into Philip's
hands, by warning them  in "The Wolves and the Sheep,,"
lest, in giving up the public orators, they surrendered tihe
watch-dogs of the state.  And, on another occasion, wher
the people would not hear him speaking on a serious matter
of public business, he called them  to an acknowledgment of
their frivolity, and to a sense of their duty, by commencing
the fable of " The Ass's Shadow."+
Roman history furnishes the celebrated instance of Mene.
nius Agrippa quelling an insurrection by reciting " The Belly
and the Members;'"i and Scotland furnishes the character of
Archibald " Bell-the-Cat."~
The present book of Fables is not, of course, put forward
as the veritable words of Esop.  The date of his life, and
the nature of the composition, alike forbid us to suppose that
his Fables were committed to writing by the author himself
Nor if such a work, as an authentic collection of them, evet
existed, could the common Greek text lay any claim to that
title.  It would, however, be equally absurd to adopt tlhe
alternative usually given, that the whole or the greater part
of the existing Fables are the composition of monks of the
rtiddle ages.
* Herod. I. 141.                Vit. Dcmo;tll. al1 fin.
t Liv. II. 32.       ~         W. Scott's Scotland, Chl. XX[l.




X1i                   INTRODUCTION.
The history of AEsopean Fable seems rather to be this.-Lsop was one of the first and most successful in adoptin[
this kind of apologue as a general vehicle of instruction.
Being striking in point, and easy of remembrance, his stories
were soon bandied about from mouth to mouth, and handed
down from generation to generation, with such alterations a,:
are ever attendant on oral narration.
In later times, writers, equally with speakers, preserving the
traditionary outline of the fable, filled it up in their own words;
while all the good stories afloat upon the surface of conversation became, naturally enough, referred to the great master
in that style of composition.   The popularity  of zEsop's
Fables among the Athenians soon became unbounded. We
find them continually referred to in the works of the best
Greek  authors.   Socrates relieved  the monotony  of his
prison-hours by turping them into verse; Demetrius Phalereus and others followed in the same course; and after a
considerable interval, we have them presented anew in the
Greek choliambics of Babrius, and in the Latin iambics of
Phaedrus. Certainly Phaedrus, and probably the other older
and later versionists, made divers alterations, and sometimes
inserted additional Fables of their own.
From all these various sources, the bulk of the existing
Fables is derived.   This will account for the variety of
versions, sometimes as many as six or seven of the same
Fable; while the late dialect of -the Greek, text and the
occasional obvious interpolation of Christian forms of speech
and  sentiment —though  indications of the hands through




INTRODUCTION.                   Xiii
which the Fables were last transmitted-need not drive us
from the conclusion that we have, in the main, both the
spirit and body of ZEsop's Fables, if not as they proceeded
from the Sage's own lips, at least as they were known in the
best times of Greek literature.
This collection of Fables-the most popular Moral and
Political Class-book of more than two thousand years-it has
been the object of the Translator to restore, in a more
genuine form than has yet been attempted, into the hands of
the present generation, from which the wearisome and other
wise objectionable paraphrases of the ordinary versions ha,
almost banished it.
The recent happy discovery of the long-lost Fables ol
Babrius, and their opportune appearance in this countrx
in the excellent edition of Mr. George Cornwall Lewis
suggested the idea that by a recurrence to the Greel
texts, and by collating and sifting the various ancien
versions, a nearer approach might be gained to the true
Esopean Fable than has yet been proposed in any Englisi
collection.
In the present Version, however, no strict and definite plar
of translation has been followed.  Though the general rule
has been to give a free translation from the oldest source tc
which the Fable could be traced, or from its best later fornr.
in the dead languages, there will be found exceptional cases
of all kinds.  Some are compounded out of many ancient
versions: some are a collation of ancient and modern: some




xtv                   IINTrRODUCTION.
are abridged, some interpolated: one takes the turn of a
Greek epigram, another follows the lively and diffusive gossip
of Horace: some walk more in the track of the Greek verse
of Babrius, some in that of the Latin verse of Phaedrus: a
few adopt the turn given by L'Estrange, or speak almost in
the very words of Croxall or Dodsley.*
This method of translation-wholly without excuse, if
applied to a genuine classic —will, perhaps, be deemed admissible for a popular volume of iEsopean Fables, seeing
that it is neither more nor less than has happened to them
since the days when the Sage first scattered his Apologues
on the wide waters of society, to be taken up and treated as
suited the whim  or purpose of subsequent recounters and
versionists, from Socrates to Mrs. Trimmer.
A greater liberty has been taken with those venerable
deductions which are usually appended in set form to the
Fable, under the title of Morals, or Applications; and. in
this, an essential departure has been made from the common
plan of the English Fabulists, who have generally smothered
the original Fable under an overpowering weight of their own
commentary.  Of course, when  Fables were first spoken,
they were supposed to convey their own moral along with
them, or else they were spoken in vain; and even when first
written, the application given  was that of the particular
occasion, not of general inference.  When, in later times,
Morals were formally added, they were always brief, and
mostly in a proverbial form. To this character it has been
* A few modern fables, marked (M) in the Index, have been inserted.




INTRODUCTION                       X.
attempted to recall them, though, in some instances, they are
incorporated with the Fable, and in others, where the story
seems to speak for itself, omitted altogether.
It would be quite unnecessary for the Translator to suggest,
even in an age much less pictorial than the present, how
much this Book is indebted for any value it may possess
to the illustrations of the Artist; but he cannot close his
own portion of the work without expressing how greatly
the pleasure of the undertaking has been enhanced to him
by having such a coadjutor: —a pleasure which has arisen no
less from  the kindly spirit of Mr. Tenniel's co-operation, than
trom the happy results of his skill.
TrFPDTnlGWORTH V\ICARAGE,,aln iiaryq, 1 4 8.








PAGR
THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.                                                 2 1
THE FOX AND THE GOAT...... 25
THE VAIN JACKDAW.........  29
THE COCK AND THE JEWEL.33
THE WOLF AND THE LAMB.                                                  37
THE LION AND THE MOUSE.41
THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE.45
THE DOG AND THE SHADOW.. 49
THE FIGHTING COCKS AND THE EAGLE... 53
THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE..
THE SHEPHERD BOY AND THE WOLF.....
THE CROW AND THE PITCHER...... 6
THE TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR.                                           69
THE FOX AND THE WOODMAN.                                               73
THE ASS AND THE LAP-DOG                                                77
THE WIND AND THE SUN....... 81
THE COLLIER AND THE FULLER.....
THE LION IN LOVE......89
THE WOLVES AND THE SHEEP.....93
THE FOX WITHOUT A TAIL......97
THE NURSE AND THE WOLF......101
THE HORSE AND THE STAG.....105
THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG.......
3~~~~~~~~~~1:




xvl i                      ILL USTIRATIONS.
THE COUNTRY-MlAID AND HER E TILK-CAN.                             11 
THE CAT AND TIlE MICE...   117
TIIE DOG IN THE MANGER...                 1
THIE GOOSE Wi1TH THE GOLDEN EGGS..                                 125
TTIE DOG INVITED TO SUPPER..129
TH E THIEF AND THE DOG......                       133
TIE T'\O POTS... ]137
THE ARAB AND THE CAMEL........ 141
TIIE ASS AND HIS DRIVER...... ]45
THE HORSE AND THE LOADED ASS....... 149
THE EAGLE AND THE JACKDAV..                        153
THE HEIFER AND THE OX..                                            157
THE FOX AND THE STORK..    161
THE BULL AND THE GOAT...                                           165
THE HERDSMAN AND THE LOST BULL... 169
THE ASS IN THE LION9S SKIN.                     173
THE MOUSE AND THE WEASEL                                            177
THE GREAT AND THE LITTLE FISIIES.                                  181
THE VINE AND THE GOAT.... 185
THE FOX AND THE CROW..                                             189
THE ASS S SHADOW.........   193
THE OLD WOMAN AND HER MAIDS... 197
THE MISER........201
THE STAG AT THE POOL....                                        205
THE BOASTING TRAVELLER...... 209
TIlE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS.....           213




FABLE I.
THE FOX AND TILE GRAPES.
A Fox, just at the time of the vintage, stole into a vineyard where the
ripe sunny Grapes were trellised up
on high in most tempting' show.  Ile
made many a spring and a jump
I1~~~~~~~~L
VIii~ 4'~i'             "




22          THE BOWMAN AND THIE LION.
after the luscious prize; but, failing in all his attempts,
he muttered as he retreated. "Well! what does it
ihatter! The Grapes are sour!"
FABLE II.
TIlE BOWMAN AND THE LION.
A M1AN who was very skilful with his bow, went up
into the mountains to hunt. At his approach there
was instantly a great consternation and rout among
all the wild beasts, the Lion  alone showing any
determination to fight. "Stop," said the Bowman to
him, "and await my messenger, who has somewhat
to say to you." With that he sent an arrow after
the Lion, and wounded him in the side. The Lion,;lnarting with anguish, fled into the depth of the
thickets, but a Fox seeing him  run, bade him take,ourage, and face his enemy.  "No," said the Lion,'you will not persuade me to that; for if the messenger he sends is so sharp, what must be the poweir
of him who sends it?"




FABLE III.
THIE WOLF AND THE CRANE.
A WOLF had got a bone stuck in his throat, and
in the greatest agony ran up and down, beseeching
every animal he met to relieve him: at the same time
hinting at a very handsome reward to the successful
operator. A Crane, moved by his entreaties and promises, ventured her long neck down the Wolf's throat,
and drew out the bone. She then modestly asked for
the promised reward. To which, the Wolf, grinning
and showing his teeth, replied with seeming indignation,
"Ungrateful creature! to ask for any other reward
than that you have put your head into a Wolf's jaws,
and brought it safe out again!"
Those who are charitable only in the hope of a
return, must not be surprised if, in their dealings with
evil men, they meet with more jeers than thanks.




FABLE IV.
THE KID AND TIIE WOLF.
A KID being mounted on the roof of a lofty house,
and seeing a Wolf pass below, began to revile him.
The wolf merely stopped to reply, "'Coward! it is
not you who revile me, but the place on which you
are standing."
FABLE V.
TIlE MOUNTAIN IN LABOR.
IN days of yore, a mighty rumbling was heard in a
Mountain.  It was said to be in labor, and muiltitudes flocked together, from far and near, to see what
it would produce. After long expectation and many
wise conjectu-res from the bystanders-out popped a
Mouse!
The story applies to those whose magnificent promises end in a paltry performance.




I,
TIlE FOX AND'ilE GOAT.
A Fox had fallen into a well and had been casting
about for a long time how he should get out again,
when at length a Goat came to the place, and
wanting to drink, asked Reynard whether the water
was good, and if there was plenty of it. The Fox,
dissembling the real danger of his case, replied, "Come
down, my friend; the water is so good that I cannot
drink enough of it, and so abundant that it cannot be




f26         THE WIDOW AND THE HEN
exhaustecl."  Upon this the Goat without any more
ado leaped in; when the Fox, taking advantage of
his friend's horns, as nimbly leaped out; and coolly
remarked to the poor deluded Goat,-" If you had
half as much brains as you have beard, you would
have looked before you leaped."
FABLE VII.
THE WIDOW AN D THE HEN.
A Wmow woman kept a Hen that laid an egg every
morning. Thought the woman to herself, " If I double
my Hen's allowance of barley, she will lay twice
a-day." So she tried her plan, and the Hen became
so fat and sleek, that she left off laying at all.
Figures are not always facts




iFABLE VIII.
TIlE KITE AND THE PIGEONS.
SOME Pigeons had long lived in fear of a Kite, but
by being always on the alert, and keeping near their
dove-cote, they had contrived hitherto to escape the
attacks of the enemy. Finding his sallies unsuccessful,
the Kite betook himself to craft: "Why," said he,
"do you prefer this life of continual anxiety, when
if you would only make me your king, I would secure
you from every attack that could be made upon you?"
The Pigeons, trusting to his professions, called him to
the throne; but no sooner was he established there
than he exercised his prerogative by devouring a pigeon
a-day. Whereupon one that yet awaited his turn,
said no more than "It serves us right."
They who voluntarily put power into the hand of
a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last
turned against themselves.




FABLE IX.
THE EAGLE AND THE FOX.
AN Eagle and a Fox had long lived together as
good neighbors; the Eagle at the summit of a high
tree, the Fox in a hole at the foot of it. One day,
however, while the Fox was abroad, the Eagle made a
swoop at the Fox's cub, and carried it off to her nest,
thinking that her lofty dwelling would secure her from
the Fox's revenge. The Fox, on her return home,
upbraided the Eagle for this breach of friendship, and
begged earnestly to have her young one again; but
finding that her entreaties were of no avail, she
snatched a torch from an altar-fire that had been
lighted hard by, and involving the whole tree in flame
and smoke, soon made the Eagle restore, through fear
for herself and her own young ones, the cub which
she had just now denied to her most earnest prayers
The tyrant, though he may despise the tears of the
oppressed, is never safe from their vengeance.




FABLE X.
THE VAIN JACKDAW.
A JACKDAW, as vain and conceited as Jackdaw
could be, picked up the feathers which some Peacocks had shed, stuck them amongst his own, and
despising his old companions, introduced himself with
the greatest assurance into a flock of those beautiful
birds. They, instantly detecting the intruder, stripped
him of his borrowed plumes, and falling upon him with
their beaks, sent him about bhs business. The unlucky




30         THE BOY AND THE SCORPION.
Jackdaw, sorely punished and deeply sorrowing, betook
himself to his former companions, and would have
flocked with them again as if nothing had happened.
But they, recollecting what airs he had given himself,
drummed him out of their society, while one of those
whom he had so lately despised, read him this lecture:
-" Had you been contented with what nature made
you:-you would have escaped the chastisement of
your betters, and also the contempt of your equals."
FABLE XI.
TIIE ]BOY AND TIIE SCORPION.
A BoY was hunting Locusts upon a wall, and had
caught a great number of them; when, seeing a
Scorpion, he mistook it for another Locust, and was
just hollowing his hand to catch it, when the Scorpion,
lifting up his sting, said: " I wish you had done it. for
I would soon have made you drop me, and the Locu4ts
into the bargain."




FABLE XII.
THE OLD HOUND.
A HoUND, who had been an excellent one in his
time, and had done good service to his master in
the field, at length became worn out with the weight
of years and trouble. One day, when hunting the wild
boar, he seized the creature by the ear, but his teeth
giving way, he was forced to let go his hold, and the
boar escaped. Upon this the huntsman, coming up,
severely rated him.  But the feeble Dog replied,
"Spare your old servant! it was the power not the
will that failed me. Remember rather what I was,
than abuse me for what I am."
FABLE XIII.
TIIE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER.
ON % cold frosty day an Ant was dragging out some
of the corn which he had laid up in summer time,
to dry it. A Grasshopper, half-perished with hunger,




32          THE FAWN AND H:ER MOTtlEIR.
besought the Ant to give him a morsel of it to preserve
his life. "What were you doing," said the Ant, "this
last summer?"  "Oh," said the Grasshopper, "I was
not idle. I kept singing all the summer long." Said
the Ant, laughing and shutting up his granary, "Since
you could sing all summer, you may dance all winter."
Winter finds out what summer lays by.
FABLE XIV.
THE FAWN AND IERt MOTH'ER.
A FAWN one day said to her mother, " Mother, you
are bigger than a dog, and swifter and better winded,
and you have horns to defend yourself; how is it that
you are so afraid of the hounds?"  She smiled and
said, "All this, my child, I know full well; but no
sooner do I hear a dog bark, than, somehow or other,
my beels take me off as fast as they can carry me."
There is no arguing a coward into courage.




F&B,E XV.
TIIE COCK AND TItE JEWEL.
As a Cock was scratching up the straw in a farmyard, in search of food for the hens, he hit upon a
Jewel, that by some chance had found its way there.
"Ho!" said he, "you are a very fine thing, no doubt,
to those who prize you; but give me a barley-corn
before all the pearls in the world."
The Cock was a sensible Cock: but there are
many silly people who despise what is precious only
because they cannot understand it.




FABLE XVI.
THE FISHERMAN PIPING.
A MAN wh( cared more for his notes than his nets,
seeing some fish in the sea, began playing on his pipe,
thinking that they would jump out on shore. But
finding himself disappointed, he took a casting-net, and
enclosing a great multitude of fish, drew them to land.
When he saw the fish dancing and flapping about, he
smiled and said, " Since you would not dance when I
piped, I will have none of your dancing now."
It is a great art to do the right thing at the right
season.
FABLE XVII.
THE MAN AND THE SATYR.
A MAN and a Satyr having struck up an acquaintance,
sat down together to eat.  The day being wintry
and cold, the Man put his fingers to his mouth and




THE HORSE AND THE GROOM.
blew upon them.  "What's that for, my fiiend?"
asked the Satyr. " My hands are so cold," said the Man;
" I do it to warm them." In a little while some hot
food was placed before them, and the Man, raising the
dish to his mouth, again blew upon it. " And what's
the meaning of that, now?" said the Satyr. " Oh," replied the Man, "my porridge is so hot, I do it to cool
it."  "Nay, then," said the Satyr, "from this moment
I renounce your friendship, for I will have nothing to
do with one who blows hot and cold with the same
mouth."
FABLE XVIII.
THE HORSE AND THE GROOM.
A GROOM who used to steal and sell a Horse's corn,
was yet very busy in grooming and wisping him all
the day long. "If you really wish me," said the
Horse, "to look well, give me less of your currying
and more of your corn."




FABLE XIX
T'IE FLIES AND TIIE HIONEY POT
A POT of Honey having been upset in a grocer s
shop, the Flies came around it in swarms to eat it up,
nor would they move from the spot while there was a
drop left. At length their feet became so clogged that
they could not fly away, and stifled in the luscious
sweets they exclaimed, "Miserable creatures that we
are, who for the sake of an hour's pleasure, have thrown
away our lives!"
FABLE XX.
TIIE TWO WALLETS.
EVERY man carries Two Wallets, one before and one
behind, and both full of faults. But the one before,
is full of his neighbor's faults; the one behind, of his
own. Thus it happens that men are blind to their own
faults, but never lose sight of their neighllbor's.




::8k7
FABLE XX1.
TIIE \VOLF AND T'IIE  AMB.
As a Wolf was lapping at the head of a running
brook, he spied a stray Lamb paddling, at some
distance, down the stream. Having made up his mind
to seize her, he bethought himself how he might justify
his violence. "Villain!" said he, running up to her,
"how dare you muddle the water that I am drinking?"
"Indeed," said the Lamb humbly, "I do not see how I
can disturb the water, since it runs from you to me.
not from me to you." "IBe that as it may," replied




THE BEARt AND THE FOX
the Wolf, "it was but a year ago that you called me
many ill names."  " Oh, Sir!" said the Lamb, treim
bling, " a year ago I was not born."  " Well," replied
the Wolf, "if it was not you, it was your father, and
that is all the same; but it is no use trying to argue
me out of my supper;"-and without another word he
fell upon the poor helpless Lamb and tore her to
pieces.
A tyrant never wants a plea. And they have little
chance of resisting the injustice of the powerful whose
only weapons are innocence and reason.
FABLE XXII.
THE BEAR AND THE FOX.
A BEAR used to boast of his excessive love for Man,
saying that he never worried or mauled him when dead.
The Fox observed, with a smile, " I should have thought
more of your profession, if you never ate him alive."
Better save a man from dying than salve him when
dead.




FABLE XXtII.
THE MOUSE AND THE FROG.
A MOUSE in an evil day made acquaintance witll a
Frog, and they set off on their travels together. The
Frog, on pretence of great affection, and of keeping his
companion out of harm's way, tied the Mouse's fore-foot
to his own hind-leg, and thus they proceeded for some
distance by land. Presently they came to some water,
and the Frog, bidding the Mouse have good courage,
began to swim across. They had scarcely, however,
arrived midway, when the Frog took a sudden plunge
to the bottom, dragging the unfortunate Mouse after
him. But the struggling and floundering of the Mouse
made so great commotion in the water that it attracted
the attention of a Kite, who, pouncing down, and
bearing off the Mouse, carried away the Frog at the
same time in his train.
Inconsiderate and ill-matched alliances generally end
in ruin; and the man who compasses the destruction
of his neighbor, is often caught in his own snare.




FABLE XXIV.
TIHE DOG, THE COCK, AND THE FOX.
A DoG and a Cock having struck up an acquaintance,
went out on their travels together. Nightfall found
them in a forest; so the Cock, flying up on a tree,
perched among the branches, while the Dog dozed
below at the foot. As the night passed away and the
day dawned, the Cock, according to his custom, set up
a shrill crowing. A Fox hearing him, and thinking to
make a meal of him, came and stood under the tree, and
thus addressed him:-" Thou art a good little bird, and
most useful to thy fellow-creatures. Come down, then,
that we may sing our matins and rejoice together."
The Cock replied, "Go, my good friend, to the foot of
the tree, and call the sacristan to toll the bell." But
as the Fox went to call him, the Dog jumped out in a
moment, and seized the Fox and made an end of him.
They who lay traps for others are often caught by
their own bait.




FELTLR Sc
FABLE XXV.
THE LION AND THE MOUSE
A LION was sleeping in his lair, when a Mouse, not
knowing where he was going, ran over the mighty
beast's nose and awakened him. The Lion clapped
his paw upon the frightened little creature, and was
about to make an end of him  in a moment, when
the Mouse, in pitiable tone, besought him to spare
one who had so unconsciously offended, and not stain
his honorable paws with so insignificant a prey. The
Lion, smiling at his little prisoner's fright, generously




42           THE GULL AND THE KITE.
let him go. Now it happened no long time after, that
the Lion, while ranging the woods for his prey, fell into
the toils of the hunters; and finding himself entangled
without hope of escape, set up a roar that filled the
whole forest with its echo. The Mouse, recognizing the
voice of his former preserver, ran to the spot, and with
out more ado set to work to nibble the knot in the cord
that bound the Lion, and in a short time set the noble
beast at liberty; thus convincing him that kindness is
seldom thrown away, and that there is no creature so
much below another but that he may have it in his
power to return a g,od office.
FABLE XXVI.
THE GULL AND THE KITE.
A GULL had pounced upon a fish, and in endeavoring
to swallow it got choked, and lay upon the deck for
dead. A Kite who was passing by and saw him, gave
him no other comfort than —"It serves you right:
for what business have the fowls of the air to meddle
with the fish of the sea."




FABLE XXVII.
THE FOX AND TIIE LION.
A Fox who had never seen a Lion, when by chance
he met him for the first time, was so terrified that
he almost died of fright. When he met him the second
time, he was still afraid, but managed to disguise his
fear. When he saw him the third time, he was so
much emboldened that he went up to him and asked
bim how he did.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
FABLE XXVIII.
THE CREAKING WHEELS.
As some Oxen were dragging a wagon along a
heavy road, the Wheels set up a tremendous creaking.
" Brute!" cried the driver to the wagon; " why do
you groan, when they who are drawing all the weight
are silent?"
Those who cry loudest are not always the most hurt.




FABLE XXIX
THE FROG AND THE OX.
AN Ox, grazing in a swampy meadow, chanced to
set his foot among a parcel of young Frogs, and
crushed nearly the whole brood to death. One that
escaped ran off to his mother with the dreadful news;
" And, O mother i" said he, "it was a beast-such a big
four-footed beast!-that did it." "Big?" quoth the old
Frog, "how big? was it as big"-and she puffed herself out to a great degree-" as big as this?" "Oh!"
said the little one, "a great deal bigger than that."
"Well, was it so big.?" and she swelled herself out yet
more. " Indeed, mother, but it was; and if you were to
burst yourself, you would never reach half its size."
Provoked at such a disparagement of her powers, the
old Frog made one more trial, and burst herself indeed.
So men are ruined by attempting a greatness to
which they have no claim.




FABLE XXX.
THE COUNTRY MAN AND THE SNAKE.
A COUNTRYMAN returning home one winter's day,
found a Snake by the hedge-side, half dead with
cold. Taking compassion on the creature, he laid it
in his bosom and brought it home to his fire-side to
revive it. No sooner had the warmth restored it, than
it began to attack the children of the cottage. Upon




46            THE LION AND THE FOX.
this the Countryman, whose compassion had saved its
life, took up a mattock and ]aid the Snake dead at
his feet.
Those who return evil for good, may expect their
iieighbor's pity to be worn out at last.
FABLE XXXl.
THE LION AND TIHE FOX.
A Fox agreed to wait upon a Lion in the capacity oi
a servant. Each for a time performed the part belonging to his station; the Fox used to point out the prey,
and the Lion fell upon it and seized it. But the Fox.
beginning to think himself as good a beast as his
master, begged to be allowed to hunt the game instead
of finding it. His request was granted, but as he was in
the act of making a descent upon a herd, the huntsmen
came out upon him, and he was himself made the prize.
Keep to your place, and your place will keep you.




FABTLE XXXII.
THE [OUSE-DOG AND THE WOLF.
A LEAN hungry Wolf chanced one moonshiny night
to fall in with a plump well-fed House-Dog. After the
first compliments were passed between them, " How is
it, my friend," said the Wolf, " that you look so sleek?
How well your food agrees with you! and here am I
striving for my living night and day, and can hardly
save myself from starving."  "Well," says the Dog,
"if you would fare like me, you have only to do as I
do." " Indeed!" says he, " and what is that?" " Why,"
replies the Dog, "just to guard the master's house and
keep off the thieves at night."  "With all my heart;
for at present I have but a sorry time of it. This
woodland life, with its frosts and rains, is sharp work
for me. To have a warm roof over my head and a
bellyful of victuals always at hand will, methinks, be no
bad exchange."  "True," says the Dog; "therefore
you have nothing to do but to follow me." Now as
they were jogging on together, the Wolf spied a mark
in the Dog's neck, and having a strange curiosity, could




48         THE HOUSE-DOG AND THE WOLF.
not forbear asking what it meant. "Pooh! nothing at
all," says the Dog. "Nay, but pray"-says the Wolf.
" Oh! a mere trifle, perhaps the collar to which my chain
is fastened-"  "Chain!" cries the Wolf in surprise;
" you don't mean to say that you cannot rove when and
where you please?" "Why, not exactly perhaps; you
see I am looked upon as rather fierce, so they sometimes
tie me up in the day-time, but I assure you I have
perfect liberty at night, and the master feeds me off his
own plate, and the servants give me their tit-bits, and I
am such a favorite, and-but what is the matter? where
are you going?"  "Oh, good night to you," says the
Wolf; "you are welcome to your dainties; but for
me, a dry crust with liberty against a king's luxury
witll a chain."




F. 7 iLF XXXIII
FABLE XXXIII
TIlE 1)OG AND TIHE SHADOW.
A DOG had stolen a piece of meat out of a butcher's
shop, and was crossing a river on his way home,
when he saw his own shadow reflected in the stream
below. Thinking that it was another dog with another
piece of meat, he resolved to make himself master of
that also; but in snapping  at the supposed treasure,
he dropped the bit he was carrying, and so lost all.
Grasp at the shadow and lose the substance-the
common fate of those who hazard a real blessing for
some visionary good.




FABLE XXXIV.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE.
ONCE upon a time a Country Mouse who had a friend
in town invited him, for old acquaintance' sake, to
pay him a visit in the country. The invitation being
accepted in due form, the Country Mouse, though plain
and rough and somewhat frugal in his nature, opened
his heart and store, in honor of hospitality and an old
friend. There was not a carefully stored up morsel
that he did not bring forth out of his larder, peas and
barley, cheese-parings and nuts, hoping by quantity to
make up what he feared was wanting in quality, to suit
the palate of his dainty guest. The Town Mouse,
condescending to pick a bit here and a bit there, while
the host sat nibbling a blade of barley-straw, at length
exclaimed, "How is it, my good friend, that you can
endure the dulness of this unpolished life?  You are
living like a toad in a hole. You can't really prefer
these solitary rocks and woods to streets teeming with
carriages and men. On my honor, you are wasting
your time miserably here. We must make the most
of life while it lasts. A mouse, you know, does not




THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE.   51
live forever. So come with me and I'll show you
life and the town."   Overpowered with such fine
words and so polished a manner, the Country Mouse
assented; and they set out together on their journey to
town. It was late in the evening when they crept
stealthily into the city, and midnight ere they reached
the great house, where the Town Mouse took up his
quarters. Here were couches of crimson velvet, carvings in ivory, everything in short that denoted wealth
and luxury. On the table were the remains of a
splendid banquet, to procure which all the choicest
shops in the town had been ransacked the day before.
It was now the turn of the courtier to play the host; he
places his country friend on purple, runs to and fro to
supply all his wants, presses dish upon dish and dainty
upon dainty, and as though he were waiting on a king,
tastes every course ere he ventures to place it before
his rustic cousin. The Country Mouse, for his part,
affects to make himself quite at home, and blesses
the good fortune that had wrought such a change in
his way of life; when, in the midst of his enjoyment,
as he is thinking with contempt of the poor fare he has
forsaken, on a sudden the door flies open, and a party
9f revellers returning from a late entertainment, bursts




52         1THE MOON AND HER MOTH ER.
into the room. The aff'ighclted firiends jump fiom the
table in the greatest consternation, and hide themselves
in the first corner they can reach. No sooner do they
venture to creep out again than the barking of dogs
drives them back in still greater terror than before. At
length, when things seemed quiet, the Country Mouse
stole out from his hiding-place, and bidding his friend
good-bye, whispered in his ear, " Oh, my good sir, this
fine mode of living may do for those who like it;
but give me my barley-bread in peace and security
before the daintiest feast where Fear and Care are in
wraiting."
FABLE XXXV.
TIE MOON AND HER MOTHER.
THE Moon once asked her Mother to make her a little
cloak that would fit her well. "tIow," replied she,
" can I make you a cloak to fit you, who are now a New
Moon, and then a Full Moon, and then again neither
one nor the other?"




FABLE XXXV1.
TIHE FIGHTING-COCKS AND THE EAGLE.
Two young Cocks were fighting as fiercely as if they
had been men. At last the one that was beaten crept into
a corner of the hen-house, covered with wounds. But the
conqueror, straightway flying up to the top of the house,
began clapping his wings and crowing, to announce his
victory. At this moment an Eagle, sailing by, seized him
in his taions and bore him away; while the defeated rival
came ou. from his hiding-place, and took
possession of the dunghill for
which they had contended.
A=                     _  
We~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!lrl!!~r llI~i)  I))I11111 I li\ol~M




FABLE XXXVII.
THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE.
A TORTOISE, dissatisfied with his lowly life, when he
beheld so many of the birds, his neighbors, dis
porting themselves in the clouds, and thinking that,
if he could but once get up into the air, he could
soar with the best of them, called one day upon an
Eagle and offered him all the treasures of Ocean if he
could only teach him to fly. The Eagle would have
declined the task, assuring him that the thing was not
only absurd but impossible, but being further pressed
by the entreaties and promises of the Tortoise, he at
length consented to do for him the best he could. So
taking him up to a great height in the air and loosing
his hold upon him, "Now, then!" cried the Eagle,
but the Tortoise, before he could answer him a word,
fell plump upon a rock, and was dashed to pieces.
Pride shall have a fall.




FABLE XXXVIII.
THE MULE.
A MULE that had grown fat and wanton on too great
an allowance of corn, was one day jumping and
kicking about, and at length, cocking up her tail,
exclaimed,'"My dam was a Racer, and I am quite
as good as ever she was." But being soon knocked
up with her galloping and frisking, she remembered all
at once that her sire was but an Ass.
Every truth has two sides; it is well to look at both.
oefore wo commit ourselves to either.
FABLE XXXIX.
THE HEN AND THE CAT.
4 CAT hearing that a Hen was laid up sick in her
nest, paid her a visit of condolence; and creeping up
to her said, "How are you, my dear friend? what




56       THE OI;D WOMAN AND THE WINE-JAR.
can I do for you?  what are you in want of? only tell
me, if there is anything in the world that I can bring
you; but keep up your spirits, and don't be alarmed."
" Thank you," said the Hen; " do you be good enough
to leave me, and I have no fear but I shall soon be
well."
Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are
gone.
FABLE XL.
THE OLD WOMAN AND THE WINE-JAR.
AN Old Woman saw an empty Wine-jar lying on
the ground. Though not a drop of the noble Falernian,
with which it had been filled, remained, it still yielded
a grateful fragrance to the passers-by. The Old Woman,
applying her nose as close as she could and snuffing
with all her might and main, exclaimed, "Sweet
creature! how charming must your contents once have
been, when the very dregs are so delicious!"




Id ~~-                — _          A 
K, _  ___lr
FABLE XLI.
THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.
A HARE jeered at a Tortoise for the slowness of
his pace. But he laughed and said, that he would
run against her and beat her any day she would name.
"Come on," said the Hare, "you shall soon see what
my feet are made of." So it was agreed that they
should start at once. The Tortoise went off jogging
along, without a moment's stopping, at his usual steady
pace.  The Hare, treating the whole matter very
lightly, said she would first take a little nap, and that
she should soon overtake the Tortoise. Meanwhile the




58        THE ASS AND THE GRASSHOPPER.
Tortoise plodded on, and the Hare oversleeping herself,
arrived at the goal, only to see that the Tortoise had
got in before her.
Slow and steady wins the race.
FABLE XLII.
TIIE ASS AND THE GRASSHOPPER.
AN Ass hearing some Grasshoppers chirping, was
delighted with the music, and determining, if he could,
to rival them, asked them what it was that they fed
upon to make them sing so sweetly? When they told
him that they supped upon nothing but dew, the Ass
betook himself to the same diet, and soon died of
hunger.
One man's meat is another man's poison.




FABLE XLIII.
THE SICK STAG.
A STAG that had fallen sick, lay down on the rich
herbage of a lawn, close to a wood-side, that she might
obtain an easy pasturage. But so many of the beasts
came to see her-for she was a good sort of neighborthat one taking a little, and another a little, they ate up
all the grass in the place. So, though recovering from
the disease, she pined for want, and in the end lost both
her substance and her life
FABLE XLIV.
TIHE LAMB AND THE WOLF.
A LAMB pursued by a Wolf took refuge in a temple.
Upon this the Wolf called out to him, and said, that
the priest would slay him if he caught him. " Be it so,"
said the Lamb: " it is better to be sacrificed to God,
than to be devoured by you."




FABLE XLV
THE CRAB AND HER MOTHER.
SAm an old Crab to a young one,' Why do you walk
so crooked, child?  walk straight!" "Mother," said the
young Crab, " show me the way, will you? and when I
see you taking a straight course, I will try and follow."
Example is better than precept.
FABLE XLVI.
JUPITER AND THE CAMEL.
WILEN the Camel, in days of yore, besought Jupiter
to grant him horns, for that it was a great grief to
him to see other animals furnished with them, while
he had none; Jupiter not only refused to give him the
horns he asked for, but cropped his ears short for his
importunity.
By asking too much, we may lose the little that we
had before.




l, 
n.                 _-u..E
--- "~ —' UG,- -.FE:I.....
FABLE XLVII.
THE SHEPIIERD-BOY AND THE WOLF.
A SHEPIHERD-BOY, who tended his flock not far from
a village, used to amuse himself at times in crying out
"Wolf! Wolf!" Twice or thrice his trick succeeded.




62  THE POMEGRANATE, THE APPLE, AND THE BRAMBLE.
The whole village came running out to his assistance;
when all the return they got was to be laughed at
for their pains. At last one day the Wolf came indeed.
The boy cried out in earnest. But his neighbors.
supposing him to be at his old sport, paid no heed to
his cries, and the Wolf devoured the Sheep. So the
Boy learned, when it was too late, that liars are not
believed even when they tell the truth.
FABLE XLVIII.
THE POMEGRANATE, THE APPLE, AND THE BRAMBLE.
THE Pomegranate and the Apple had a contest on
the score of beauty. When words ran high, and
the strife waxed dangerous, a Bramble, thrusting his
head from a neighboring bush, cried out, "We have
disputed long enough; let there be no more rivalry
betwixt us."
The most insignificant are generally the most presuming.




FABLE XLIX.
THE STAG IN THE OX-STALL.
A IIUNTED Stag, driven out of covert and distracted
by fear, made for the first farm-house he saw, and
hid himself in an Ox-stall which happened to be open.
As he was trying to conceal himself under the straw,
" What can you mean," said an Ox, " by running into
such certain destruction as to trust yourself to the
naunts of man?"  "Only do you not betray me,"
said the Stag, " and I shall be off again on the first
opportunity." Evening came on; the herdsman foddered the cattle, but observed nothing. The other farmservants came in and out.  The Stag was still safe.
Presently the bailiff passed through; all seemed right.
The Stag now feeling himself quite secure began to
thank the Oxen for their hospitality.  " Wait awhile,"
said one of them, "we indeed wish you well, but there
is yet another person, one with a hundred eyes; if he
should happen to come this way I fear your life will be
still in jeopardy." While he was speaking, the Master,
having finished his supper, came round to see that all
was safe for the night, for he thought that his cattle




(14         THE HARE AND THE HOUND.
htad not of late looked as well as they ought. Going up
to the rack, " Why so little fodder here?" says he;
" Why is there not more straw?" And " How long, I
wonder, would it take to sweep down these cobwebs!"
Prying and observing, here and there and everywhere,
the Stag's antlers, jutting from out the straw, caught
his eye, and calling in his servants he instantly made
prize of him.
No eye like the Master's eye.
FABLE L.
THE HARE AND THE HOUND.
A HOUND having put up a Hare from a bush, chased
her for some distance, but the Hare had the best of it,
and got off. A Goatherd who was coming by jeered at
the Hound, saying that Puss was the better runner of
the two. "You forget," replied the Hound, " that it is
one thing to be running for your dinner, and another
for your life."




FABLE TI.
THE CROW  AND THE PITCIIEIR.
A CROW, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a
Pitcher, which he saw at a distance.  But when he
came up to it, he found the water so low that with
all his stooping and straining he was unable to reach it.
Thereupon he tried to break the Pitcher; then to overturn it; but his strength was not sufficient to do either.
At last, seeing some small pebbles at hand, he dropped
a great many of them, one by one, into the Pitcher, and
so raised the water to the brim, and quenched his
thirst.
Skill and Patience will succeed where Force fails.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention.




FABLE LII.
THE ONE-EYED DOE.
A DOE that had but one eye used to graze near the
sea, and that she might be the more secure from
attack, kept her eye towards the land against the
approach of the hunters, and her blind side towards
the sea, whence she feared no danger. But some sailors
rowing by in a boat and seeing her, aimed at her from
the water and shot her. When at her last gasp, she
sighed to herself: "EIl-fated creature that I am! I
was safe on the land-side whence I expected to be
attacked, but find an enemy in the sea to which I most
looked for protection."
Our troubles often come from the quarter whence
we least expect them.




FABLE LIII.
TIIE LION, THE ASS, AND THE FOX HUNTING.
THE Lion, the Ass, and the Fox formed a party to
go out hunting. They took a large booty, and when
the sport was ended bethought themselves of having a
hearty meal. The Lion bade the Ass allot the spoil.
So dividing it into three equal parts, the Ass begged
nis friends to make their choice; at which the Lion, in
great indignation, fell upon the Ass, and tore him to
pieces. He then bade the Fox make a division; who
gathering the whole into one great heap, reserved but
the smallest mite for himself. "Ah! friend," says the
Lion, "who taught you to make so equitable a division?" "I wanted no other lesson," replied the Fox,
"than the Ass's fate."
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by
your own.




FABLE LIV.
THE TREES AND TIIVE AXE.
A WooDmAN came into the forest to ask the Trees to
give him a handle for his Axe. It seemed so modest
a request that the principal Trees at once agreed to it,
and it -was settled among them that the plain homely
Ash should furnish what was wanted. No sooner had
the Woodman fitted the staff to his purpose, than he
began laying about him on all sides, felling the noblest
Trees in the wood. The Oak now seeing the whole
matter too late, whispered to the Cedar, "The first
concession has lost all; if we had not sacrificed our
humble neighbor, we might have yet stood for ages
ourselves."
When the rich surrender the rights of the poor,
they give a handle to be used against their own
privileges.




?$ AMFABLE LV.
I i.                            I    rr~lTHE
7 I i  TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR.
Two friends were travelling on
ic @ the same road together, when they
r met with a Bear. The one in great
fear, iwithout a thought of his 
/b, I~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'i~;,~i',iIi1




10        THE TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR.
companion, climbed up into a tree, and hid himself.
The other seeing that he had no chance, single-handed,
against the Bear, had nothing left but to throw himself
on the ground and feign to be dead; for he had heard
that the Bear will never touch a dead body. As he
thus lay, the Bear came up to his head, muzzling
and snuffing at his nose, and ears, and heart, but the
man immovably held his breath, and the beast supposing him  to. be dead, walked away. When the
Bear was fairly out of sight, his companion came
down out of the tree, and asked what it was that the
Bear whispered to him,-" for," says he, "I observed
he put his mouth very close to your ear."  "Why,"
replies the other, "it was no great secret; he only
bade me have a care how I kept company with those
who, when they get into a difficulty, leave their friends
in the lurch."




FABLE LVI.
THE BELLY AND TtIE MEMBERS.
IN former days, when all a man's limbs did not work
together as amicably as they do now, but each had a
will and way of its own, tie Members generally began
to find fault with the Belly for spending an idle luxurious life, while they were wholly occupied in laboring
for its support, and ministering to its wants and pleasures; so they entered into a conspiracy to cut off its
supplies for the future. The Hands were no longer to
carry food to the Mouth, nor the Mouth to receive the
food, nor the Teeth to chew it. They had not long
persisted in this course of starving the Belly into
subjection, ere they all began, one by one, to fail
and flag, and the whole body to pine away. Then
the Members were convinced that the Belly also,
cumbersome and useless as it seemed, had an important
function of its own; that they could no more do
without it than it could do without them; and that if
they would have the constitution of the body in a
healthy state, they must work together, each in his
proper sphere, for the common good of all.




72          [TIUE HARE AND THE HOUND
FABLE LVII.
TIHE DOLPHINS AND TIlE SPRAT.
THE Dolphins and the Whales were at war with one
another, and while the battle was at its height, the
Sprat stepped in and endeavored to separate them.
But one of the Dolphins cried out, "Let us alone,
friend! We had rather perish in the contest, than be
reconciled by you."
FABLE LVIII.
THIE BLIND MAkN AND THE WHELP.
A BLIND Man was wont, on ally animal being put
into his hands, to say what it was. Once they brought
to him a Wolf's whelp. I-e felt it all over, and being in
doubt, said, "I know not whether thy father was a
I)og or a Wolf; but this I know, that I would not
trust thee amonfg a flock of sheep."
Evil dispositions are early shown.




FABLE LIX.
TIIE FOX AND THE WOODMAN.
A Fox, had pressed by the hounds after a long runs
t ame up to a man who was cutting wood, and begged
him to afford him some place where he might hide
himself. The man showed him his own hut, and the
Fox creeping in, hid himself in a corner. Thle Hunters
presently came up, and asking the man whether he
had seen the Fox, "No," said he, but pointed nithl
10




74          THE FOX AND THE WOODMAN.
his fingerl to the corner. They, however, not understandin(g the hint, were off again immediately. WVhen
the Fox perceived that they were out of sight, he was
stealing off without saying a word. But the man up1,raided him, saying, " Is this the way you take leave
of your host, without a word of thanks for your safety?"
"A pretty host!" said the Fox, turning round upon
him, " if you had been as honest with your fingers as
you were with your tongue, I should not have left
your roof without bidding you farewell."
There is as much malice in a wink as in a word.




FABLE LX.
IHERCULES AND THE WAGONER.
As a Countryman was carelessly driving his wagon
along a miry lane, his wheels stuck so deep in the
clay that the horses came to a stand-still. Upon this
the man, without making the least effort of his own,
began to call upon Hercules to come and help him out
of his trouble. But Hercules bade him lay his shoulder
to the wheel, assuring him that Heaven only aided
those who endeavored to help themselves.
It is in vain to expect our prayers to be heard, if
we do not strive as well as pray.
FABLE LXI.
THE MONKEY AND THE CAMEL.
AT a great meeting of the Beasts, the Monkey stood
up to dance. Having greatly distinguished himself, and
being applauded by all present, it moved the spleen of




76           THEI: DOVE AND THE CROW.
the Camel, who came forward and began to dance also;
but he made himself so utterly absurd, that all the
Beasts in indignation set upon him with clubs and
drove him out of the ring.
Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will'each.
FABLE LXI1.
THE DOVE AND TIIE CROW.
A DOVE that was kept shut up in a cage was congratulating herself upon the number of her family.
":Cease, good soul," said a Crow, "to boast on that
subject; for the more young ones you have, so many
more slaves will you have to groan over."
What are blessings in freedom are curses in slavery.




FABLE LXIII.
THE ASS AND THE LAP-DOG.
THERE was an Ass and a Lap-dog that belonged to
the same master. The Ass was tied up in the stable,
and had plenty of corn and hay to eat, and was as
well off as Ass could be. The little Dog was always
sporting and gambolling ab)out, caressing and fawning upon his master in a thousand amusing ways, so
that he became a great favorite, and was permitted to
lie in his master's lap. The Ass, indeed, had enough to




78           THE ASS AND THE LAP-DOG.
do; he was drawing wood all day, and had to take his
turn at the nmill at night. But while he grieved over
his own lot, it galled him more to see the Lap-dog
living in such ease and luxury; so thinking that if he
acted a like part to his master, he should fare the same,
he broke one day from his halter, and rushing into the
hall began to kick and prance about in the strangest
fashion; then switching his tail and mimicking the frolics
of the favorite, he upset the table where his master
was at dinner, breaking it in two and smashing all the
crockery; nor would he leave off till he jumped upon
his master, and pawed him with his rough-shod feet.
The servants, seeing their master in no little danger
thought it was now high time to interfere, and having
released him from the Ass's caresses, they so belabored
the silly creature with sticks and staves, that he never
got up again; and as he breathed his last, exclaimed,' Why could not I have been satisfied with my natural
position, without attempting, by tricks and grimaces,
to imitate one who was but a puppy after all!"




FABLE LXIV.
THE HARES AND THE FROGS.
ONCE upon a time, the Hares, driven desperate by
the many enemies that compassed them about on every
side, came to the sad resolution that there was nothing
left for them but to make away with themselves, one
and all. Off they scudded to a lake hard by, determined to drown themselves as the most miserable of
creatures. A shoal of Frogs seated upon the bank,
firightened at the approach of the Hares, leaped in the
greatest alarm and confusion into the water. "Nay,
then, my friends," said a Hare that was foremost, " our
case is not so desperate yet; for here are other poor
creatures more faint-hearted than ourselves."
Take not comfort, but courage, from another's distress; and be sure, whatever your misery, that there
are some whose lot you would not exchange witlh
your own.
v 




FABLE LXV.
TIHE ANGLER AND THE LITTLE FISH.
AN Angler, who gained his livelihood by fishing,
after a long day's toil, caught nothing hut one little fish.
"Spare me," said the little creature, "I beseech you; so
small as I am, I shall make you but a sorry meal. 1
am not come to my full size yet; throw me back into
the river for the present, and then, when I am grown
bigger and worth eating, you may come here and catch
me again."  " No, no," said the man; "I have got you
now, but if you once get back into the water, your tune
will be,'Catch me, if you can."'
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.




FABLE LXVI.
THE WIND AND THE SUN.
A DISPUTE once arose between
the Wind and the Sun, which was
the stronger of the two, and they
\~11 l:q  agreed to put the point upon
j C,~  ~ this issue, that whichever soonest
MOWLAoC




82            THE WIND AND THE SUTN.
made a traveller take off his cloak, should be accounted
the more powerful. The Wind began, and blew with
all his might and main a blast, cold and fierce as a
Thracian storm; but the stronger he blew the closer
the traveller wrapped his cloak around him, and the
tighter he grasped it with his hands.  Then broke
out the Sun: with his welcome beams he dispersed
the vapor and the cold; the traveller felt the genial
warmth, and as the Sun shone brighter and brighter,
he sat down, overcome with the heat, and cast his cloak
on the ground.
Thus the Sun was declared the conqueror; and it
has ever been deemed that persuasion is better than
force; and that the sunshine of a kind and gentle
manner will sooner lay open a poor man's heart than
all the thrleatenings and force of blustering authority.




FABLE LXVII.
TITE FARTIIING RUSIILIGHT.
A RUSHLIGIIT that had grown fat and saucy with
too much grease, boasted one evening before a large
company, that it shone brighter than the sun, the moon,
and all the stars. At that moment, a puff of wind
came and blew it out. One who lighted it again, said,
"Shine on, friend Rushlight, and hold your tongue; the
lights of heaven are never blown out."
FABLE LXVIII.
TIlE LIONESS.
THERE was a great stir made among all the Beasts,
which could boast of the largest family. So they\
came to the Lioness. "And how many," said thley
"do you have at a birth?"  "One," said she, gltimnly;
"but that one is a Lion."
Quality comes before quantity.




FABLE LXIX.
THE HUSBANDMAN AND THE STORK.
A HISBANDMAN fixed a net in his field to catch
the Cranes that came to feed on his new-sown corn.
When he went to examine the net, and see what
Cranes he had taken, a Stork was found among the
number. "Spare me," cried the Stork, "and let me
go. I am no Crane. I have eaten none of your corn.
I am a poor innocent Stork, as you may see-the most
pious and dutiful of birds. I honor and succor my
father and mother.  I    " But the Husbandman
cut him short. "All this may be true enough, I dare
say, but this I know, that I have caught you with those
nwho were destroying my crops, and you must suffer
with the company in which you are taken."
Ill company proves more than fair professions.




!,Jl self; proposed to a Fuller
COTLTER   & THE FULLER.
T ai likn    more room  in his house
iii }t     than he wanted for himii "?self, proposed to a Fuller
to come and take up his
_  _, T Se  quarters with him. "Thank'-'~- — ~ —-    ~-you," said the Fuller, " Lbut
I must decline your offer; for I fear that as fast as I
whiten my goods you will blacken them again."
There can be little likiing  where there is no likeness




FABtE IXXI.
TItE FARMER AND HIS SONS.
A FARMER being on the point of death, and wishing
to show his sons the way to success in farming, called
them  to him, and said, "My children, I am now
departing from this life, but all that I have to leave you.
you will find in the vineyard." The sons, supposing
that he referred to some hidden treasure, as soon as the
old man was dead, set to work with their spades and
ploughs and every implement that was at hand, and
turned up the soil over and over again. They found
indeed no treasure; but the vines, strengthened and
improved by this thorough tillage, yielded a finer
vintage than they had ever yielded before, and more
than repaid the young husbandmen for all their trouble.
So truly is industry in itself a treasure.




FABLE LXXII.
THE OLD WOMAN AND THE PHlYSICIAN.
AN old Woman, who had become blind, called in a
Physician, and promised him, before witnesses, that
if he would restore her eyesight, she would give him a
most handsome reward, but that if he did not cure her.
and her malady remained, he should receive nothing.
The agreement being concluded, the Physician tampered from time to time with the old lady's eyes, and
meanwhile, bit by bit, carried off her goods. At length
after a time he set about the task in earnest and cured
her, and thereupon asked for the stipulated fee. But
the old Woman, on recovering her sight, saw none of
her goods left in the house. When, therefore, the
Physician importuned her in vain for payment, and she
continually put him off with excuses, he summoned her
at last before the Judges. Being now called upon for
her defence, she said, "What this man says is true
enough; I promised to give him his fee if my sight
were restored, and nothing if my eyes continued bad
Now then he says that I am cured, but I say just the




88           THE WOLF AND THE SHEEP.
contrary; for when my malady first came on, I could
see all sorts of furniture and goods in my house; but
now, when he says he has restored my sight, I cannot
see one jot of either."
He who plays a trick must be prepared to take
a joke.
FABLIE LXXIII.
THE WOLF AND THE SHEEP.
A WOLF that had been bitten by a dog, and was in
a very sad case, being unable to move, called to a
Sheep, that was passing by, and begged her to fetch
him some water from the neighboring stream. "For
if you," said he, "will bring me drink, I will find meat
myself."  "Yes," said the Sheep, "I make no doubt of
it; for, if I come near enough to give you the drink,
you will soon make mince-meat of me."




FABLE LXX1V.
T'IE LION IN LOVE.
IT happened in days of old that a Lion fell in live
with a Woodman's daughter; and had the folly to
ask her of her father in marriage. The Woodman was
not much pleased with the offer, and declined the honor
of so dangerous an alliance. But upon the Lion threatening him with his royal displeasure, the poor man,
seeing that so formidable a creature was not to be
denied, hit at length upon this expedient: " I feel greatly
flattered," said he, "with your proposal; but, noble
sir, what great teeth you have got! and what greALt
12




90          THE MOLE AND HER MOTHER.
claws'yoll have got! where is the damsel that would
not be frightened at such weapons as these? You must
have your teeth drawn and your claws pared before
you can be a suitable bridegroom for my daughter."
The Lion straightway submitted (for what will not a
body do for love?) and then called upon the father
to accept him as a son-in-law. But the Woodman, no
longer afraid of the tamed and disarmed bully, seized
a stout cudgel and drove the unreasonable suitor from
his door.
FABLE LXXV.
THE MOLE AND HER MOTHER.
SAm a young Mole to her Mother, "Mother, I can
see." So, in order to try her, her Mother put a
lump of firankincense before her, and asked her what it
was. "A stone," said the young one. " O, my child!"
said the Mother, " not only do you not see, but you
cannot even smell."
Brag upon one defect, and betray another.




FABLE LXXVI.
TIlE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN.
IT was an old custom among sailors to carry about
with them little Maltese lap-dogs, or Monkeys, to amuse
them on the voyage; so it happened once upon a time
that a man took with him a Monkey as a companion
on board ship.  While they were off Sunium, the
famous promontory of Attica, the ship was caught in
a violent storm, and being capsized, all on board were
thrown in the water, and had to swim for land as best
they could. And among them was the Monkey. A
Dolphin saw him struggling, and, taking him for a
man, went to his assistance and bore him on his back
straight for shore. When they had just got opposite
Piraeus, the harbor of Athens, the Dolphin asked the
Monkey "If he were an Athenian?" " Yes," answered
the Monkey, " assuredly, and of one of the first families
in the place."  "Then, of course, you know Pirpeus,"
said the Dolphin. "Oh, yes,' said the Monkey, who
thought it was the name of some distinguished citizen,




92          THE WIDOW AND THE SHEEP.
"he is one of my most intimate friends." Indignant at
so gross a deceit and falsehood, the Dolphin dived to
the bottom, and left the lying Monkey to his fate.
FABLE LXXVII.
THE WIDOW AND THE SIIEEP.
THIERE was a certain Widow who had an only Sheep,
and, wishing to make the most of his wool, she sheared
him so closely that she cut his skin as well as his
fleece. The Sheep, smarting under this treatment,
cried out-"Why do you torture me thus?  What
will my blood add to the weight of the wool? If you
want my flesh, Dame, send for the Butcher, who will
put me out of my misery at once; but if you want
my fleece, send for the Shearer, who will clip my wool
without drawing my blood."
Middle measures are often but middling measures.




A=  ~';".', A, M} *, ~ ~
FABLE LXXV1II.,Ig  THE WOLVES AND THE SHEE1'.
ONCE on a time, the Wolves
sent an embassy to the Sheep,
desiring that there  might be
peace between them for the time
to come.  "Why," said they
"should we be forever waging'',   this deadly strife? Those wicked
/i...




'94'rlIE SWALLOW AND THE RAVEN.
Dogs are the cause of all; they are incessantly barking
at us, and provoking us. Send them away, and there
will be no longer any obstacle to ourI eternal friendship
and peace."  The silly Sheep listened, the Dogs were
dismissed, and the flock, thus deprived of their best
protectors, became an easy prey to their treacherous
enemy.
FABLE LXXIX.
THE SWALLOW AND THE RAVEN.
r1tnw  Swallow and the Raven contended which was
the finer bird. The Raven ended by saying, "Your
beauty is but for the summer, but mine will stand
many winters."
Durability is better than show.




FABLE LXXX.
THE MAN BITTEN BY A DOG.
A MAN who had been bitten by a Dog, was going
about asking who could cure him. One that met
him said, " Sir, if you would be cured, take a bit of
bread and dip it in the blood of the wound, and give
it to the dog that bit you." The Man smiled, and said,
"' If I were to follow your advice, I should be bitten by
all the dogs in the city."
He who proclaims himself ready to buy up his
enemies will never want a supply of them.
FABLE LXXXI.
THE SMAN AND TIlE LION.
ONcE upon a time a Man and a Lion were journeying
vogether, and came at length to high words which
was the braver and stronger creature of the two. As




O96          THE DOGr AND HIS MASTER.
the dispute waxed warmer they happened to pass by,
on the road-side, a statue of a man strangling a lion.
"See there," said the Man; "what more undeniable
proof can you have of our superiority than that?"
"That," said the Lion, " is your version of the story;
let us be the sculptors, and for one lion under the feet
of a man, you shall have twenty men under the paw of
a lion."
Men are but sorry witnesses in their own cause.
FABLE LXXXII.
THE DOG AND HIS MASTER.
A CERTAIN Man was setting out on a journey, when,
seeing his Dog standing at the door, he cried out to
him, "What are you gaping about? Get ready to come
with me." The Dog, wagging his tail, said, " I am all
right, Master; it is you who have to pack up."




-- -                      H 2' O _ _
FABLE LXXXIII.
T'lE FOX WI'IIOUT A TAIL
A Fox being caught in a trlap, was glad to compound
for his neck by leaving his tail behind him; but
upon collling abroad into the world, lie began to be so
sensible of the disgrrace such a defect would bring upon
him, that he almost wished he had died rather thaln
come away without it. Ho-wever, resolving to make the
best of a bad matter, he called a meeting of the rest of
the Foxes, and proposed that all should follow  his
exalllple. "You have no notion," said he, " of the ease
and comfort with which I now move about: I could
never have believed it if I hla( not tried it myself; but
1 8S




98            THE V'1PER AND TlHE FILE.
really, when one comes to reason upon it, a tail is such
an ugly, inconvenient, unnecessary appendage, that the
only wonder is that, as Foxes, we could have put up
with it so long.  I propose, therefore, my worthy
brethren, that you all profit by the experience that I
am most willing to afford you, and that all Foxes from
this day forward cut off their tails."  Upon this one of
the oldest stepped forward, and said, " I rather think,
my friend, that you would not have advised us to part
with our tails, if there were any chance of recovering
your own."
FABLE LXXXIV.
THE VIPER, ANTD TIIE FILE.
A VIPER entering into a smith's shop began looking
about for something to eat. At length, seeing a File,
he went up to it and commenced biting at it; but
the File bade him leave him alone, saying, " You are
likely to get little from me, whose business it is to bite
others."




rABLE LXXXV.
TIlE BUNDLE OF STICKS.
A HUSBANDMAN who had a quarrelsome family, aft er
having tried in vain to reconcile them by words,
thought he might more readily prevail by an example. So he called his sons, and bade them  lay a
bundle of sticks before him. Then having tied themn
into a fagot, he told the lads, one after the other, to
take it up and break it. They all tried, but tried in
vain. Then untying the fagot, he gave them the sticks
to break one by one. This they did with the greatest
ease. Then said the father, "Thus you, my sons, as
long as you remain united, are a match for all your
enemies; but differ and separate, and you are undone."
Union is strength.




FABLE LXXXVI.
JUPITER, NEPTUNE, MINERVA, AND MOMUS.
JUPITER, Neptune, and Minerva (as the story goes)
once contended which of them should make the most
perfect thing. Jupiter made a Man; Pallas made a
House; and Neptune made a Bull; and Momus-for he
had not yet been turned out of Olympus-was chosen
judge to decide which production had the greatest
merit. He began by finding fault with the Bull, because
his horns were not below his eyes, so that he might see
when he butted with them. Next he found fault with
the Man, because there was no window in his breast that
all might see his inward thoughts and feelings. And
lastly he found fault with the House, because it had no
wheels to enable its inhabitants to remove from bad
neighbors. But Jupiter forthwith drove the critic out
of heaven, telling him that a fault-finder could never be
pleased, and that it was time to criticize the works of
others when he had done some good thing himself.




FABLE LXXXVII.
T-'E NURSE AND THE WOLF.
A WOLF, rovingl about in search
=i; 3|of food, passed by a door where
a child was crying and its Nurse
chiding it. As he stood listening he
heard the Nurse say, " Now leave
off crying this instant, or I'll throw
you out to the Wolf." So thinking that the old woman
would be as good as her word, he waited quietly about




102       THE BIRDCATCHER AND THE LARK.
the house, in expectation of a capital supper. But as
it grew dark and the child became quiet, he again
heard the Nurse, who was now fondling the child, say,
" There's a good dear, then; if the naughty Wolf comes
for ray child, we'll beat him to death, we will." The
Wolf, disappointed and mortified, thought it was now
high time to be going home, and, hungry as a wolf,
indeed, muttered as he went along: "This comes of
heeding people who say one thing and mean another!"
FABTLE LXXXVIII.
TIIE BIRDCATCHER AND THE LARK.
A BIRDCATCHER was setting springes upon a common,
when a Lark, who saw him at work, asked him from
a distance what he was doing. "I am establishing a
colony," said he, "'and laying the foundations of imy
first city."  Upon that, the Man retired to a little
distance and hid himself.  The Lark, believing his
assertion, soon flew down to the place, and swallow



THE TRAVELLEIRS AND THE I'LANE-TIREE.   103
ing the bait, found himself entangled in the noose;
whereupon the Birdcatcher straightway coming up to
him, made him his prisoner.  "A  pretty fellow  are
you!" said the Lark; "if these are the colonies you
tound, you will not find many emigrants."
FABLE ILXXXIX.
THE rRAVELLERS AND TIlE PLANTE-TREE.
SOMrE Travellers, on a hot day in summer, oppressed
with the noon-tide sun, perceiving a Plane-tree near
at hand, made straight for it, and throwing themselves on the ground, rested under its shade.  Looking up, as they lay, towards the  tree, they said
one to another, "Whlat a useless tree to man is this
barren Plane!"  But the Plane-tree answered them,"Ungrateful creatures! at the very moment that youl
are enjoying,)enefit friom me, you rail at me as being
good for nothing.",lor'atitld(le is as bllind as it, is base.




FABLE XC.
JUPITER AND THIE BEE.
IN days of yore, when the world was younlg, a Bee
that had storedl her combs with  a bountiful harvest,
flew up to heaven to present as a sacrifice an offering of
honey. Jupiter was so delighted with the gift, that he
promised to give her whatsoever she should ask for.
She therefore besought him, saying, "0  glorious Jove,
mak-er and master of me, poor Bee, give thy servant a
sting, that when any one approaches my hive to take
the honey, I may kill him on the spot." Jupiter, out of
love to manl, was angry at her request, and thus
answered her: " Your prayer shall not be granted in
the way you wish, but the sting which you ask for
you shall have; and when any one comes to take away
your honey and you attack him, the wound shall be
fatal not to him but to you, for your life shall go with
your sting."
He that p)rays harm for his neighbor, begs a curse
upon himself.




FIABLE XCI.'I'IE HOIRSE AND'TIE STAG.
A HousE had the whole rang e of a meadow to high
self; but a Stag coming and damaging the pasture,
the Horse, anxious to have 1b s revenge, asked a Man
if he could not assist him  in punishing the Stag.
"Yes," said the Man, " only let me put a bit in your
mouth, and get upon your back, and I will find the
weapons."  The Horse agreed, and the Man mounted
14




106           THE OAK AND THE REED.
accordingly; but instead of getting his revenge, the
Horse has been from that time forward the slave of
Mlan.
Revenge is too dearly purchased at the price,t
liberty.
FABLE XCII.
THE OAK AND TtIE REED.
AN Oak that had oeen rooted up by the winds, whQs
borne down the stream  of a river, on the banks of
which many Reeds were growing. The Oak wondered
to see that things so slight and frail had stood the
storm, when so great and strong a tree as himself had
been rooted up.  "Cease to wonder," said the Reedl,
"you were overthrown by fighting against the storlm,
while we are saved by yielding and bending to the
slightest )breath that blows."




FABLE XCIII.
MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN.
k WOODMYAN was felling a tree on the bank of a
ri -er, and by chance let slip his axe into the water,
when it immediately sunk to  the bottom.  Being
thereupon in great distress, he sat down by the side
of the stream, and lamented his loss bitterly. But
Mercury, whose river it was, taking compassion on
him, appeared at the instant before him; and hearing
from him the cause of his sorrow, dived to the bottom
of the river, and bringing up a golden axe, asked the
Woodman if that were his. Upon the man's denying
it, Mercury dived a. second time, and brought up one
of silver. Again the man denied that it was his. So
diving a third time, he produced the identical axe which
the man had lost. "That is mine!" said the Woodman,
delighted to have recovered his own; and so pleasel
was Mercury with the fellow's truth and honesty, tll:t
he at once made him a present of the other two.
The man goes to his companions, and giving them all
account of what had happened to him, one of them




108         MIERCURY AND THE WOODNIAN
determined to try whether he might not have the like
good fortune. So repairing to the same place, as if for
the purpose of cutting wood, he let slip his axe on pul'pose into the river, and then sat down on the bank, and
made a great show of weeping.  Mercury appeared as
i)efore, and hearing from him that his tears were cause(l
by the loss of his axe, dived once more into the stream;
and bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was
the axe he had lost. "Aye, surely," said the man,
eagerly; and he was about to grasp the treasure, when
Mercury, to punish his impudence and lying, not only
refused to give him that, but would not so much as
restore ]iim his own axe again.
Honesty is the best policy.




IA BLE XCIV.
THE AMISCHIEVOUS I)OG.
TjhERE was a Dog so wild and mischievous, that his
master was obliged to fasten a heavy clog about his
neck, to prevent him biting and worrying his neighbors.  The Dog, priding himself upon his badge,
paraded ill the market-place, shaking his clog to attract
attention.  But a sly friend whispered to him, "The




1o10        T'IlE GEESE AND THE CRANES.
less noise you make, the better; your mark of distinction is no reward of merit, but a badge of disgrace!"
Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and woul(l
rather be remarked for their vices or follies than not
bd noticed at all.
FABLE XCV.
THE GEESE AND) TIlE CRANES.
So31E Geese and some Cranes fed together in the
zaine field. One day the sportsmen came suddenly
down upon them. The Cranes, being light of body,
flew off in a moment and escaped; but the Geese,
weighed down by their fat, were all taken.
In civil commotions, they fare best who have least
to fetter them.




FAnBLE XCVI.
TIlE ASS CARRYING SALT.
A CERTAIN Huckster who kept an Ass, hearing that
Salt was to be had cheap at the sea-side, drove down
his Ass thither to buy some. Having loaded the beast
as much as he could bear, he was driving him home,
when, as they were passing a slippery ledge of rock,
the Ass fell into the stream below, and the Salt being
melted, the Ass was relieved of his burden, and having
gained the bank with ease, pursued his journey onward,
light in body and in spirit. The Huckster soon afterwards set off for the sea-shore for some more Salt, and
loaded the Ass, if possible, yet more heavily than before.
On their return, as they crossed the stream into which
he had formerly fallen, the Ass fell down on purpose,
and by the dissolving of the Salt, was again released
from his load. The Master, provoked at the loss, and
thinking how he might cure him of this trick, on his
iext journey, to the coast freighted the beast with a loa(d
of sponges. When they arrived at the same stream as
before, the Ass was at his old tricks again, and rolled
himself into the water; but the sponges becoming




112              THE QUACK FROG.
thoroughly wet, he founj to his cost, as he proceeded
homewards, that instead of lightening his burden, he
had more than doubled its weight.
The same measures will not suit all circumstances;
and we may play the same trick once too often.
]F'ABLE XCVII.
TIHE QUACK FROG.
A FROG emerging from the mud of a swamp, proclaimed to all the world that he was conme to cure
all diseases. " Here!" lie cried, " come antd see a doctor,
the proprietor of medicines such as man never heard
of before; no, not ~;sculapius himself, Jo\re's courtphysician!"  "And how," said the Fox, " dare you set
up to heal others, who are not able to cure your own
limping gait, and blotched and wrinkled skin?"
Test a man's professions by his practice. Physician,
heal thyself!




FABLE XCVIII.
THE COUNTRY MAID AND HER MILK-CAN.
A COUNTRY MAID was walking along with a can of
Milk upon her head, when she fell into the followingcr
train of reflections.'rThe money for which I shall
sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of
eggs to three hundred. These eggs, allowing for what
may prove addle, and what may be destroyed by
vermin, will produce at least two hundred and fifty
chickens. The chickens will be fit to carry to market
15




114       THE BEEVES AND THE BUTCHERS.
just at the time when poultry is always dear; so that
by the new-year I cannot fail of having money enough
to purchase a new gown. Green-let me consideryes, green becomes my complexion best, and green it
shall be.  In this dress I will go to the fair, where
all the young fellows will strive to have me for a
partner; but no-I shall refuse every one of them, and
with a disdainful toss turn from -them."  Transported
with this idea, she could not forbear acting with her
head the thought that thus passed in her mind; whendlown came the can of milk! and all her imaginary
happiness vanished in a moment.
FABLE XCIX.
THE BEEVES AND TIHE BUTCHERS.
TILE Beeves, once on a time, determined to make
an end of the Butchers, whose whole art, they said,
was conceived for their destruction. So they assembled
together, and had already whetted their horns for the




THE EAGLE AND THE A.iiOW.        115
contest, when a very old Ox, who had long worked at
the plough, thus addressed them:-" Have a care, my
friends, what you do. These men, at least, kill us with
decency and skill, but if we fall into the hands of
botchers instead of butchers, we shall suffer a double
death; for be well assured, men will not go without
beef, even though they were without butchers."
Better to bear the ills we have, than fly to others
that we know not of.
FABLF: C.
TIHE EAGLE AND THE ARROW.
A BOWMAN took aim at an Eagle and hit him in the
heart. As the Eagle turned his head in the agonies
of death, he saw that the Arrow  was winged with
his own feathers. "How much sharper," said he, " are
the wounds made by weapons which we ourselves have
supplied!"




FABLE CI.
TIlE GOATHERD AND THE GOATS.
IT was a stormy day, and the snow was falling fast,
when a Goatherd drove his Goats, all white with snow,
into a desert cave for shelter. There he found that a
herd of Wild-goats, more numerous and larger than his
own, had already taken possession.  So, thinking to
secure them all, he left his own Goats to take care of
themselves, and threw  the branches which he had
brought for them to the Wild-goats to browse on. But
when the weather cleared up, he found his own Goats
had perished from hunger, while the Wild-goats were
off and away to the hills and woods. So the Goatherd
returned a laughing-stock to his neighbors, having
failed to gain the Wild-goats, and having lost his own.
They who neglect their old friends for the sake of
new, are rightly served if they lose both.




FABLE CIn.
TIHE CAT AND THIE MICE.
A CAT, grown feeble with age, and no longer able
to hunt the Mice as she was wont to do, bethought
- -   s-   -  herself how she might entice
them within reach of her paw.
-w |l/  Thinking that she might pass
herself off for a bag, or for a
dead cat at least, she suspended
herself by the hind legs from a
peg, in the hope that the Mice
_~'~          corggXe r nwould no longer be afraid to
come near her. An old Mouse,
who was wise enough to keep
jl!  his distance, whisperled to a
- friend, "Many  a bag have I
seen in my day, but never one
with a cat's head."  "Hang
there, good Madian," said the other,'as long as you




118         T111E AIAU-kIIAG  OF THE SUN.
please, but I would not trust myself within reach of
you though you were stuffed with straw."
Old birds are not to be caught with chaff.
FABLE CIII.
THE MARRIAGE OF TIlE S TUN.
ONCE upon a time, in a very warm summer, it was
currently reported that the Sun was going to be
married. All the birds and the beasts were delighted
at the thought; and the Frogs, above all others, were
determined to have a good holiday. But an old Toad
put a stop to their festivities by observing that it was
an occasion for sorrow rather than fo.r joy. I" For if,"
said he, "the Sun of himself now parches up the
marshes so that we can hardly bear it, what will
becomle of us if he should have half a dozen little
Suns in addition 2"




FABLE C1V.
TIlE THIEF AND HIS MOTHER.
A  SCIOOLBOY stole a horn-book from one of his
schoolfellows, and brought it home to his mother.
Instead of chastising him, she rather encouraged him
in the deed. In course of time the boy, now grown
into a man, began to steal things of greater value,
till at length being caught in the very act, he was
bound and led to execution. Perceiving his mother
following among the crowd, wailing and beating her
breast, he begged the officers to be allowed to spealk
one word in her ear. When she quickly drew near,
and applied her ear to her son's mouth, he seized
the lobe of it tightly between his teeth and bit it off.
Upon this she cried out lustily, and the crowd joined
her in upbraiding the unnatural son, as if his former
evil ways had not been enough, but that his last act
must be a deed of impiety against his mother. But he
replied: "It is she who is the cause of my ruin; for if
when I stole my schoolfellow's horn-book and brought
it to her, she had given me a sound flogging, I should




120          THE GNAT AND THIE BULL.
never have so grown in wickedness as to come to this
untimely end."
Nip evil in the bud. Spare the rod and spoil the
child.
FABLE CV.
THE GNAT AND THE BULL.
A GNAT that had been buzzing about the head of a
Bull, at length settling himself down upon his horn,
begged his pardon for incommoding him; "but if," says
he, "my weight at all inconveniences you, pray say so,
and I will be off in a moment." " Oh, never trouble your
head about that," says the Bull, " for'tis all one to me
whether you go or stay; and, to say the truth, I did
not know you were there."
The smaller the Mind the greater the Conceit.




a,Z
FABLE CVI.
THE DOG IN THE MANG(ER.
A. DOG madle his bed in a Manger, and lay snarling
and growling to keepl) the horses from their provender
"See," said one of them, 1" what a m serable cur! who
neither can eat corn himself, nor will allow those to
eat it who can."
16




FABLE CV \It.
THE MICE IN COUNCIL.
ONCE upon a time, the Mice being sadly distressed by
the persecution of the Cat, resolved to call a meeting, to decide upon the best means of getting rid of
this continual annoyance. Many plans were d(iscussed
and rejected; at last a young Mouse got up and proposed that a Bell should be hung round the Cat's neck,
that they might for the future always have notice of
her coming, and so be able to escape. This proposition
was hailed with the greatest applause, and was agreed
to at once unanimously. Upon which an old Mouse,
who had sat silent all the while, got up and said that he
considered the contrivance most ingenious, and that it
would, no doubt, be quite successful; but he had only
one short question to put, namely, which of them it
was iwho would Bell the Cat?
It is one thing to propose, another to execute.




FABLE CVIII.
T[ tE LION, THE BEAR, AND THE FOX.
A LION and a Bear found the carcase of a Fawn, and
had a long fight for it. The contest was so hard and
even, that, at last, both of them, half-blinded and halfdead, lay panting on the ground, without strength to
touch the prize that was stretched between them. A
Fox comling by at the time, and seeing their helpless condition, stepped in between the combatants and carried
off the booty. "'Poor creatures that we are," cried
they, " who have been exhausting all our strength and
itjuring one another, merely to give a rogue a dinner!"
FABLE CIX.
TIIE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG.
A Fox, while crossing over a river, was driven by
the stream into a narrow gorge, and lay there for a
long time unable to get out,,overed with myriads




124        THE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG.
of horse-flies that had fastened themselves upon him.
A Hedgehog, who was wandering in that direction, saw
him, and taking compassion on him, asked him if he
should drive away the flies that were so tormenting
him. But the Fox begged him to do nothing of the
sort. "Why not?'" asked the Hedgehog.  "Because,"
replied the Fox, " these flies that are upon me now, are
already full, and draw but little blood, but should you
remove them, a swarm of fiesh and hungry ones will
come, who will not leave a drop of blood in my body."
When we throw off rulers or depenrdants, who have
already made the most of us, we do but, for the most
part, lay ourselves open to others who will make us
bleed yet more freely.




FABLE C(X.
THE GOOSE WITH THE GOLDEN EGGS.
A CERTAIN man had the good fortune to possess a
Goose that laid him a Golden Egg every day. But
dissatisfied with so slow an income, and thinking to
seize the whole treasure at once, he killed the Goose;
and cutting her open, found her-just what any other
goose would be!
Miuch iwants more and loses all.




FABLE CXI.
THE LION AND THE DOLPHIN.
A LION was roaming on the sea-shore, when, seeing
a Dolphin basking on the surface of the water, he invited him to form an alliance with him, "for," said he,
" as I am the king of the beasts, and you are the king
of the fishes, we ought to be the greatest friends and
allies possible."  The Dolphin gladly assented; and the
Lion, not long after having a fight with a wild bull,
called upon the Dolphin for his promised support. But
when he, though ready to assist him, found himself
unable to come out of the sea for the purpose, the
Lion accused him of having betrayed him. "Do not
blame me," said the Dolphin in reply, " but blame my
nature, which, however powerful at sea, is altogether
helpless on land."
In choosing allies, we must look to their power a
well as their will to aid us.




FABLE CXII.
THE MOUNTEBANK AND THE COUNTRYMAN.
A CERTAIN wealthy patrician, intending to treat the
Roman people with some theatrical entertainment, publicly offered a reward to any one who would produce
a novel spectacle. Incited by emulation, artists arrived
from all parts to contest the prize, among whom a wellknown witty Mountebank gave out that he had a new
kind of entertainment that had never yet been produced
on any stage. This report being spread abroad, brought
the whole city together. The theatre could hardly contain the number of spectators. And when the artist
appeared alone upon the stage, without any apparatus,
or any assistants, curiosity and suspense kept the spectators in profound silence. On a sudden he thrust down
his head into his bosom, and mimicked the squeaking
of a young pig, so naturally, that the audience insiste(l
upon it that he had one under his cloak, and ordered
him to be searched; which being done, and nothing
appearing, they loaded him with the most extravagant
applause.
A Countryman anmong the audience observing what




128    THE MOUNTEBANK AND THE COUNTRYMIAN.
passed-" Oh!" says lie, "I can do better than this;"
and immediately gave out that he would perform the
next day. Accordingly, on the morrow, a yet greater
crowd was collected. Prepossessed, however, in favor
of the Mountebank, they came rather to laugh at the
Countryman than to pass a fair judgment on him. They
both camle out unpon the stage. The Mountebank grunts
away first, and calls forth the greatest clapping and
applause. Then the Countryman, pretending that he
concealed a little pig under his garments (and he had,
in fact, really got one), pinched its ear till he made it
squeak. The people cried out that the Mountebank had
imitated the pig much more naturally, and hooted to
the Countryman to quit the stage; but he, to convict
them to their face, produced the real pig from his
bosom. " And now, gentlemen, you may see," said he,
" what a pretty sort of judges you are!"
It is easier to convince a man against his senses than
against his will.




FABLE CXIII.
THE DOG INVITED TO SUPPER.
liI <A GENTLEMIAN, having pie.' ~ —  pared a great feast, invited
a Friend to supper; and the
Gentleman's Dog, meeting the Friend's Dog, "Come,"
said he, "my good fellow, and sup with us to-night."
The Dog was delighlted with the invitation, and as
17




130         THE DOG INVITED TO S UPPER.
he Sitood by and saw the preparations for the feast,
said to himself, " Capital fare indeed! this is, in truth,
good luck. I shall revel in dainties, and I will take
good care to lay in an ample stock to-night, for I
may have nothing to eat to-morrow." As he said this
to himself, he wagged his tail, and gave a sly look
at his friend who had invited him.  But his tail
wagging to and fro caught the cook's eye, who seeing a stranger, straightway seized him by the legs, and
threw him out of the window. When he reached the
ground, he set off yelping down the street; upon which
thle nelghbor's Dogs ran up to him, and asked him
how he liked his Slupper. "I'faith," said he, with a
sorry smile, "I hardly'know, for we drank so deep
that I cant't even tell you which way I got out of
the house."
They who enter by the back-stairs may expect to be
shownn out at the window.




FABLE CXIV'TIlE FRLOGS ASKING FOR A KING.
IN the days of old, when the Frogs were all at liberty ilI
the lakes, and had grown quite weary of following every
one his own devices, they assembled one day together, and
with no little clamor petitioned Jupiter to let them have
a King to keep them in better order, and make them
lead honester lives. Jupiter, knowing the vanity of their
hearts, smiled at their request, and threw down a Log
into the lake, which by the splash and commotion it
mnade, sent the whole commonwealth into the greatest
terror and amazement. They rushed under the water
and into the mud, and dared not come within ten leaps'
length of the spot where it lay. At length one Frog
bolder than the rest ventured to pop his head above
the water, and take a survey of their new King at a
respectful distance. Presently, when they perceived
the Log lie stock-still, others began to swim up to it
and around it; till by degrees, growing bolder and
bolder, they at last leaped upon it, and treatedf it with
the greatest contempt.  Dissatisfied with so tame a
rtller, they forthwvith petitioned Jupiter a secondl time




132        THE1'E FROGS ASKING FOR A KING.
for another and more active King. Upon which he
sent them a Stork, who no sooner arrived among them
than he began laying hold -of them and devouring them
one by one as fast as he could, and it was in vain that
they endeavored to escape him.  Then they sent
Mercury with a private message to Jupiter, beseeching
him  that he would take pity on them once more;
but Jupiter replied, that they were only suffering the
punishment due to their folly, and that another time
they would learn to let well alone, and not be dissatisfied with their natural condition.




THIIEF AND THE DOG.
___'        A THIEF coming to rob a
=*w4|i      house, would have stopped
the barking of a Dog by
throwing  sops  to  hili.
"CAway with you!" said the Dog; "I had mray suspicions of you before, but this excess of civility assures
me that you are a rogue."
A bribe in hand betrays mischief at heart.




nABLF: CXVI.
THE TRUMI'ETER TAKEN PRIISO:NER.
A TRUMIPETER being taken prisoner in a battle, begged
hard for quarter. " Spare me, good sirs, I beseech you,"
said he, "and put me not to death without cause, for I
have killed no one myself, nor have I any arms but this
trumpet only."'" For that very reason," said they who
had seized him, "shall you the sooner die, for without
the spirit to fight, yourself, you stir up others to warfare
and bloodshed."
He who incites to strife is worse than he who takes
part in it.
FABLE XCVII.
THE H UNTER AND THE FISI-ERMAN.
A HUNTER was returning from the mountains loaded
with game, and a Fisherman was at the same time
coming home with his creel full of fish, when they




TIlE FITR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE.     135
chanced to meet by the way. The Hunter tookl a
fancy to a dish of fish: the Fisher preferred a supper'
of game. So each gave to the other the contents of
his own basket. And thus they continued daily to
exchange provisions, till one who had observed them
said: " Now, by this invariable interchange, will they
destroy the zest of their meal; and each will soon wish
to return to his own store again."
FABLE CXVIII.
THE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE.
A FIR-TREE was one day boasting itself to a Bramble.
"You are of no use at all; but how could barns
and houses be built without me?"  "Good sir," said
the Bramble, "when the woodmen come here with their
axes and saws, what would you give to be a Brannl-)le
and not a Fir?"
A  ulnmble lot in security is better than the dangers
that encompass the high and haughty.




FABLE CXIX.
THE ASS AND HIS MASTERS.
AN Ass, that belonged to a Gardener, and had little
to eat and much to do, besought Jupiter to release
him from the Gardener's service, and give him another
master. Jupiter, angry at his discontent, made him
over to a Potter. He had now heavier burdens to
carry than before, and again appealed to Jupiter to
relieve him, who accordingly contrived that he should
be sold to a Tanner. The Ass having now fallen into
worse hands than ever, and daily observing how his
master was employed, exclaimed with a groan, "Alas,
wretch that I am! it had been better for me to have
remained content with my former masters, for now I
see that my present owner not only works me harder
while living, but will not even spare my hide when
I am dead!"
Ile that is discontented in one place will seldom be
happy in another.




FABLE CXX.
THE TWO POTS.
Two Pots, one of earthenware, the other of brass,
were carried down a river in a flood. The Brazen
Pot begged his companion to keep by his side, and he
would protect him.  "Thank you for your offer," said
the Earthen Pot, " but that is just what I amn afraid of;
if you will only keep at a distance, I may float down
in safety; but should we come in contact, I am sure to
be the sufferer."
Avoid too powerful neighbors; for, should there
be a collision, the weakest goes to the wall.
18




FABLE CXXT.
a HE LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES.
THERE was a brood of Young Larks in a field of
corn, which was just ripe, and the mother, looking
every day for the reapers, left word, whenever she went
out in search of food, that her young ones should report
to her all the news they heard. One day, while she was
absent, the master came to look at the state of the crop.
"It is full time," said he, "to call in all my neighbors
anld get my corn reaped."  When the old Lark came
home, the young ones told their mother what they
had heard, and begged her to remove them forthwith.
"Time enough," said she; " if he trusts to his neighbors, he will have to wait awhile yet for his harvest."'
NRext day, however, the owner came again, and finding
the sun still hotter and the corn more ripe, and nothing
done, "There is not a moment to be lost," said he; " uwe
cannot depend upon our neighbors: we must call in
our relations;" and, turning to his son, " Go call your
uncles and cousins, and see that they begin to-lllorrow."
In still greater fear, the young ones repeated to their
mother the farmler's words.  "If that be all," says she,




TrlE FI'SHEIR{MAN.           1:})
"do not be frightened, for the relations have got harvest
work of their own; but take particular notice what you
hear the next time, and be sure you let me know."  She
went abroad the next day, and the owner coming as
before, and finding the grain falling to the ground firo
over-ripeness, and still no one at work, called to his son.
" We must wait for our neighbors and friends no
longer; do you go and hire some reapers to-night, and
we will set to work ourselves to-morrow."  When the
young ones told their mother this-" Then," said she
" it is time to be off, indeed; for when a man takes up
his business himself, instead of leaving it to others, you
may be sure that he means to set to work in earnest."
FABLE CXXII.
TIHE FISHERMAN.
A FISHER3IAN went to a river to fish; and when he
had laid his nets across the stream, he tied a stone
to a long cord, and- beat the water on either side of the
net, to drive the fish into the meshes. One of the




140          THE OLD MAN AND DEATH.
neighbors that lived thereabout seeing him thus employed, went up to him and blamed him exceedingly
for disturbing the water, and making it so muddy as to
1)e unfit to drink. "I am sorry," said the Fisherman.
"that this does not please you, but it is by thus
troubling the waters that I gain my living."
FABLE CXXIII.
THE OLD MAN AND DEATH.
AN Old Man that had travelled a long way with a
huge bundle of sticks, found himself so weary that
he cast it down, and called upon Death to deliver him
from his most miserable existence. Death came straightway at his call, and asked him what he wanted. " Pray,
good sir," says he, "d(lo me but the favor to help me
up with my burden again."
It is one thing to call for Death, and another to see
him coming,




FABLE CXXIV.
THE ARAB AND THE CAMEL.
Pray, Master," said the Camel dryly,'is the straight
way across the plain shut up?"




FABLE CXXV.
TIlE TRAVELLERS AND THE HIATChIET.
TWo men were travelling along the same road, wl en
one of them picking up a hatchet, cries, "See what
I have found!"'Do not say I;" says the other, " but
wE have found."  After a while, up came the man who
had lost the hatchet, and charged the man who had it
with the theft.' Alas," says he to his companion, " we
are undone!"  "Do not say wv," repjies the other,
" but I am  undone; for he that will ucot tllow his
friend to share the prize, must not expect bhir to share
the danger."
FABLE CXX'VI.
THE DOCTOR AND HIS PATIENT.
A. DocToR had been for some time attendingo a,,e a
sick Man, who, however, died under his hands. At
the funeral the Doctor went about among the relations,




THE ASS, THE FOX, AND THE LION.    143
saying, " Our poor friend, if lie had only refrained
from wine, and attended to his inside, and used proper
means, would not have been lying there."  One of the
mourners answered him, " My good sir, it is of no use
your saying this now; you ought to have prescribell
these things when your Patient was alive to take them."
The best advice may come too late.
FABLE CXXVII.
TIlE ASS, TIIE FOX, AND TIHE LION.
AN Ass and a Fox having made a compact alliance,
went out into the fields to hunt. They met a Lion on
the way. The Fox, seeing the impending (langer, made
up to the Lion, and whispered that he would betray
the Ass into his power, if he would promise to bear
him harmless.  The Lion having agreed to do so,
the Fox contrived to lead the Ass into a snare.
The Lion no sooner saw the Ass secured, than he
fell at once upon the Fox, reserving the other for
his next meal.




FABLE CXXVIII.
TItE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD.
A WOLF had long hung about a flock of sheep, and
had done them  no harm. The Shepherd, however,
had his suspicions, and for a while was always on the
look-out against him as an avowed enemy. But when
the Wolf continued for a long time following in the
train of his flock without the least attempt to annoy
them, he began to look upon him more as a friend than
a foe; and having one day occasion to go into the
city, he intrusted the sheep to his care. The Wolf no
sooner saw his opportunity than he forthwith fell upon
the sheep and worried them; and the Shepherd, on
his return, seeing his flock destroyed, exclaimed, "Fool
that I am! yet I deserved no less for trusting my
Sheep with a Wolf!"
There is more danger from a pretended friend than
from an open enemy.




FABLE CXXIX.
TIlE ASS AND 11IS DR[INVER.
as he could for the edge of a precipice.  When he
was just on the point of falling over, his Master
ran  up, and seizing him  by the tail, endeavored to
pull him back; but the Ass resisting and pulling the
contrary way, the man let go his hold, saying, " Well,
Jack, if you will be master, I cannot help it.  A wilfi
beast must go his own way."
1 a




FABLE CXXX.
TIlE BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BAT.
ONCE upon a time there was a fierce war waged
between the Birds and the Beasts. For a long while
the issue of the battle was uncertain, and the Bat,
taking advantage of his ambiguous nature, kept aloof
and remained neutral. At length when the Beasts
seemed to prevail, the Bat joined their forces and
appeared active in the fight; but a rally being made
by the Birds, which proved successful, he was found
at the end of the day among the ranks of the winning
party. A peace being speedily concluded, the Bat's
conduct was condemned alike by both parties, and
being acknowledged by neither, and so excluded from
the terms of the truce, he was obliged to skulk off as
best he could, and has ever since lived in holes and
corners, never daring to show his face except in the
duskiness of twilight.




FABLE CXXXI.
TIIE BEES, TIlE DRONES, AND TIIE WASP.
SOME Bees had built their comb in the hollow trunk
of an oak. The Drones asserted that it was their
doing, and belonged to them. The cause was brought
into court before Judge Wasp. Knowing something
of the parties, he thus addressed them:-" The plain
tiffs and defendants are so much alike in shape and
color as to render the ownership a doubtful matter,
and the case has very properly been brought before
me. The ends of justice, and the object of the court,
will best be furthered by the plan which I propose. Let each party take a hive to itself, and build
up a new comb, that from the shape of the cells and
the taste of the honey, the lawful proprietors of the
property in dispute may appear."  The Bees readily
assented to the Wasp's plan. The Drones declined
it.  WVhereupon the Wasp gave judgment:-" It is
clear now who made the comb, and who cannot make
it; the Court adjudges the honey to the Bees."




FABLE CXXXII.
TIIE MICE AND THE WEASELS.
THE Mice and the Weasels had long been at war
with each other, and the Mice being always worsted in
battle, at length agreed at a meeting, solemnly called
for the occasion, that their defeat was attributable to
nothing but their want of discipline, and they determined accordingly to elect regular Commanders for the
time to come. So they chose those whose valor and
prowess most recommended them  to the important
post. The new Commanders, proud of their position,
and desirous of being as conspicuous as possible, bound
horns upon their foreheads as a sort of crest and mark
of distinction. Not long after a battle ensued. The
Mice, as before, were soon put to flight; the common
herd escaped into their holes; but the Commanders,
not being able to get in from the length of their horns,
were every one caught and devoured.
There is no distinction without its accompanying
danger.




FABLE CXXXIII.
TIHE HORSE AND THE LOADED ASS.
A MAN who kept a Horse and an Ass was wont in
his journeys to spare the Horse, and put all the burden
upon the Ass's back. The Ass, who had been some
while ailing, besought the Horse one day to relieve
him of part of his load; " For if," said he, " you would
take a fair portion, I shall soon get well again; but if




150       THE HORSE AND THE LOADED ASS.
you refuse to help me, this weight will kill me." The
Horse, however, bade the Ass get on, and not trouble
him with his complaints. The Ass jogged on in silence,
but presently, overcome with the weight of his burden,
dropped down dead, as he had foretold. Upon this,
the master coming up, unloosed the load from the
dead Ass, and putting it upon the Horse's back, made
him carry the Ass's carcase in addition. " Alas, for my
ill nature!" said the Horse; "by refusing to bear my
just portion of the load, I have now to carry the whole
of it, with a dead weight into the bargain."
j/   9.i.
f —-',~''-~-(;f       S:.."




FABLE CXXXIV.
THE HEDGE AND TIIE VINEYARD.
A FOOLISH young Heir who had just come into possession of his wise father's estate, caused all the Hedges
about his Vineyard to be grubbed up, because they
bore no grapes. The throwing down of the fences laid
his grounds open to man and beast, and all his vines
were presently destroyed. So the simple fellow learnt,
when it was too late, that he ought not to expect to
gather grapes firom brambles, and that it was quite as
important to protect his Vineyard as to possess it.
FABLE CXXXV.
THE LION AND THE GOAT.
ON a summer's day, when everything was suffering
from extreme heat, a Lion and a Goat came at the
same time to quench their thirst at a small fountain.




1 52          THE FOX AND THEIE MASK.
They at once fell to quarrelling which should first drink
of the water, till at lencth it seemed that each was
determined to resist the other even to death. But,
ceasing from the strife for a moment, to recover breath,
they saw a flock of vultures hovering over them, only
waiting to pounce upon whichever of them should fall.
Whereupon they instantly made up  their quarrel,
agreeing that it was far better for them both to become friends, than to furnish food for the crows and
vultures.
FABLE CXXXVI.
THE FOX AND TIlE MASK.
A Fox had stolen into the house of an actor, and in
rummaging among his various properties, laid hold
of a highly-finished Mask.  "A fine-looking head, indeed!" cried he; " what a pity it is that it wants
brains!"
A fair outside is but a poor substitute for inward
nworth.




FABLE CXXXVII.
THE EAGLE AND THE JACKDAW.
AN Eagle made a swoop from a
/"4~; high rock, and carried off a lamb.
A Jackdaw, who saw the exploit,
thinking that he could do the like,,,, en -:_
bore down with all the force he could muster upon
a ram, intending to bear him off as a prize. But his
2 0.,




154             TIIE THIRSTY PIGEON.
claws becoming entangled in the wool, he made such
a fluttering in his effbrts to escape, that the shepherd,
seeing through the whole matter, came up and caught
him, and having clipped his wings, carried him home to
his children at nightfall. "What bird is this, father,
that you have brought us?" exclaimed the children.
"Why," said he, "if you ask himself, he will tell you
that he is an Eagle; but if you will take my word for
it. I know him to be but a Jackdaw."
FABLE CXXXVIII.
THE THIRSTY PIGEON.
A PIGEON severely pressed by thirst, seeing a glass
of water painted upon a sign, supposed it to be real;
so dashing down at it with all her might, she struck
against the board, and, breaking her wing, fell helpless
to the ground, where she was quickly captured by one
of the passers-by.
Great haste is not always good speed.




FABLE CXXXIX.
TIlE FARMER AND TIlE CRANES.
SOME Cranes settled down in a Farmer's field that was
newly sown. For some time the Farmer fiightened
them away by brandishing  an empty sling at them.
But when the Cranes found that he was only slinging
to the.winds, they no longer minded him, nor flew
away. Upon this the Farmer slung at them with
stones, and killed a great part of them. "Let us be
off," said the rest, " to the land of the Pygmies, for this
man means to threaten us no longer, but is determinedl
to get rid of us in earnest."
FABLE CXL.
THE FATHER AND HIS TWO DAUGHTERS.
A MIAN who had two daughters married one to a
Gardener, the other to a Potter. After awhile he
paid a visit to the Gardener's, and asked his daughter




156      THE FALCONER AND THE PARTRIDGE.
how she was, and how it fared with her. " Excellently
well," said she; "we have everything that we want;
I have but one prayer, that we may have a heavy storm
of rain to water our plants." Off he set to the Potter's,
and asked his other daughter how matters went with
her. "There is not a thing we want," she replied;
"and I only hope this fine weather and hot sun may
continue, to bake our tiles." " Alack," said the Father,
"if you wish for fine weather, and your sister for rain,
which am I to pray for myself?"
FABLE CXLI.
THE FALCONER AND TIlE PARTRIDGE.
A FALCONER having taken a Partridge in his net,
the bird cried out sorrowfully, "Let me go, good
Master Falconer, and I promise you I will decoy other
Partridges into your net." " No," said the man, "whatever I might have done, I am determined now not to
spare you; for there is no death too bad for him who
is ready to betray his friends."




FABLE CXIII.
THE HEIFER AND TIHE OX.
A HEIFER that ran wild in the fields, and had
never felt the yoke, upbraided an Ox at plough for
submitting to such labor and drudgery. The Ox said
nothing, but went on with his work. Not long after,
there was a great festival. The Ox got his holiday:
but the Heifer was led off to be sacrificed at the altar.
" If this be the end of your idleness," said the Ox, " I
think that my work is better than your play. I had
rather mv neck felt the voke than the axe."




FABLE CXLIII.
THE LION AND ASS ITUNTING.
A LION and an Ass made an agreement to go out
hunting together. By-and-bye they came to a cave,
where many wild goats abode. The Lion took up his
station at the mouth of the cave, and the Ass, going
within, kicked and brayed and made a mighty fuss to
frighten them out. When the Lion had caught very
many of them, the Ass came out and asked him if
he had not made a noble fight, and routed the goats
properly. "Yes, indeed," said the Lion; " and I assure
you, you would have frightened me too. if I had not
known you to be an Ass."
When braggarts are admitted into the company
of their betters, it is only to be made use of and be
laughed at.




FABLE (CXLIV
THE SICK LION.
A LION, no longer able, from the weakness of old age,
to hunt for his prey, laid himself up in his den, and,
breathing with great difficulty, and speaking with a
low voice, gave out that he was very ill indeed. The
report soon spread among the beasts, and there was
great lamentation for the sick Lion. One after the
other came to see him; but, catching them thus alone,
and in his own den, the Lion made an easy prey of
them, and grew fat upon his diet. The Fox, suspecting
the truth of the matter, came at length to make his
visit of inquiry, and standing at some distance, asked
his Majesty how he did? " Ah, my dearest friend,"
said the Lion, "is it you?  Why do you stand so far
from me?  Come, sweet friend, and pour a word of
consolation in the poor Lion's ear, who has but a short
time to live.'" " Bless you!" said the Fox, " but excuse
me if I cannot stay; for, to tell the truth, I feel quite
uneasy at the mark of the footsteps that I see here,




160             THE BALD KNIGHT.
all pointing towards your den, and none returning
outwards."
Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it
is but common prudence to see our way out before we
venture in.
FABLE CXLV.
THIE BALD KNIGIIT.
A CERTAIN Knight growing old, his hair fell off, and
he became bald; to hide which imperfection, he wore
a periwig. But as he was riding out with some others
a-hunting, a sudden gust of wind blew off the periwig,
and exposed his bald pate. The company could not
forbear laughing at the accident; and he himself
laughed as loud as anybody, saying, "How was it to
be expected that I should keep strange hair upon my
head, when my own would not stay there?"




A Fox one day invited a Stork to dinner, and being
disposed to divert himself at the expense of his guest,
provided nothing for the entertainment but some thin
soup in a shallow dish. This the Fox lapped up very
readily, while the Stork, unable to gain a mouthful with
her long narrow bill, was as hungry at the end of dinner
as when she began. The Fox, meanwhile, professed his
regret at seeing her eat so sparingly, and feared that
the dish was not seasoned to her mind. The Stork said
little, but begged that the Fox would do her the honoi
21
21




162             THE BOY BATHING.
of returning her visit; and accordingly he agreed to
dine with her on the following day. He arrived true
to his appointment, and the dinner was ordered forthwith; but when it was served up, he found to his
dismay that it was contained in a narrow-necked vessel,
down which the Stork readily thrust her long neck and
l)ill, while he was obliged to'content himself with licking
the neck of the jar. Unable to satisfy his hunger, he
retired with as good a grace as he could, observing that
he could hardly find fault with his entertainer, who had
only paid him back in his own coin.
FABLE CXLVII.
THE BOY BATHING.
A BoY was bathing in a river, and, getting out of
his depth, was on the point of sinking, when he saw a
wayfarer coming by, to whom he called out for help
with all his might and main. The Man began to read
the Boy a lecture for his foolhardiness; but the urchin
cried out, "0, save me now, sir! and read me the
lecture afterwards."




FABLE CXLVIII.
THE IIUSBANDMAN AND TIlE SEA.
A HUSBANDMAN seeing a ship full of sailors tossed
about up and down upon the billows, cried out, " O Sea!
deceitfuil and pitiless element, that destroyest all who
venture upon thee!" The Sea heard him, and assuming
a woman's voice, replied, " Do not reproach me; I am
not the'cause of this disturbance, but the Winds, that
when they fall upon me will give no repose. But should
you sail over me when they are away, you will say
that I am milder and more tractable than your own
mother earth."
FABLE CXLIX.
THE HART AND THE VINE.
A  HART pursued by hunters concealed himself
among the branches of a Vine. The hunters passed by
without discovering him, and when he thought that all




164         THE PORKER AND THE SHEEP.
was safe, he began browsing upon the leaves that had
concealed him. But one of the hunters, attracted by
the rustling, turned round, and guessing that their
prey was there, shot into the bush and killed him.
As he was dying, he groaned out these words: "I
suffer justly from my ingratitude, who could not forbear
injuring the Vine that had protected me in time of
danger."
FABLE CL.
THE PORKER AND THE SHEEP.
A YOUNG Porker took up his quarters in a fold of
Sheep. One day the shepherd laid hold on him, when
he squeaked and struggled with all his might and
main. The Sheep reproached him for crying out, and
said, "The master often lays hold of us, and we do not
cry."  "Yes," replied he, "but our case is not the
same; for he catches you for the sake of your wool, but
me for my fry."




FABLE CLI.
THE BULL AND THE GOAT.
A BULL being pursued by a Lion, fled into a cave
where a wild Goat had taken up his abode. The
Goat upon this began molesting him and butting at
him with his horns. "Don't suppose," said the Bull,
"if I suffer this now, that it is you I am aftraid of.




166G        THE HOUND AND THE HARE.
Let the Lion be once out of siglht, and I will soon show
you the difference between a Bull and a Goat."
Mean people take advantage of their neighbors'
difficulties to annoy them; but the time will come
when they will repent them of their insolence.
FABLE CLII.
THE HOUND AND THE HARE.
A HOUND after long chasing a Hare at length came
up to her, and kept first biting and then licking her.
The Hare, not knowing what to make of him, said:
"If you are a friend, why do you bite me? —but if a
foe, why caress me?"
A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy:
let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know
how to meet him.




FABLE CLIII.
TIIE BOY AND THE FILBERTS.
A CERTAIN Boy put his hand into a pitcher where
great plenty of Figs and Filberts were deposited;
he grasped as many as his fist could possibly hold, but
when he endeavored to pull it out, the narrowness of
the neck prevented him. Unwilling to lose any of
them, but unable to draw out his hand, he burst into
tears, and bitterly bemoaned his hard fortune. An
honest fellow who stood by, gave him this wise and
reasonable advice: —" Grasp only half the quantity, nmy
boy, and you will easily succeed."
FABLE CLIV.
THE JACKASS IN OFFTCE.
AN Ass carrying an Image in a religious procession,
was driven through a town, and all the people who
passed by made a low reverence. Upon this the Ass,




THE BRAZIER AND HIS DOG.
6upposing that they intended this worship for him.self, was mightily puffed up, and would not budge
another step.  But the driver soon laid the stick
across his back, saying at the same time,'"You silly
dolt! it is not you that they reverence, but the Image
which you carry."
Fools take to themselves the respect that is given
to their office.
FABLE CLV.
THE BRAZIER AND HIS DOG.
TIERE was a certain Brazier who had a little Dog.
While he hammered away at his metal, the Dog slept;
but whenever he sat down to his dinner, the Dog woke
up. "Sluggard cur!" said the Brazier, throwing him
a bone; "you sleep through the noise of the anvil,
but wake up at the first clatter of my teeth."
Men are awake enough to their own interests, who
turn a deaf ear to their friend's distress.




TE  EDSAN AND THE LOST BUL'.
A HERDSMxN, who had lost a Bull, went roaming
through the forest ill search of it. Being unable to
find it, he began to vow to all the Nymphlls of the
forest and the mountain, to Mercnry and to Pan, that




170    T1'111 LION AND OTHER BtE:ASTS HUNTING.
he would offer up a lamb to them, if he could only dis
cover the thief. At that moment, gaining a high ridge
of ground, he sees a Lion standing over the carcase of
his beautiful Bull. And now the unhappy man vows
the Bull into the bargain, if he may only escape from
the thief's clutches.
Were our ill-judged prayers to be always granted,
how many would be ruined at their own request!
FABLE CLVII.
THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS HUNTING.
THE Lion and other beasts formed an alliance to go
out a-hunting. When they had taken a fat stag, the
Lion proposed himself as commissioner, and dividing
it into three parts, thus proceeded: "The first," said
he, " I shall take officially, as king; the second I shall
take for mny own personal share in the chase; and as
for the third part,-let him take it who dares."




FABLE CLVIII.
THE KID AND THE WOLF.
A KID that had strayed from the herd was pursue(
by a Wolf. When she saw all other hope of escape
cut off, she turned round to the Wolf, and said, "I must
allow indeed that I am your victim, but as my life is
now but short, let it be a merry one. Do you pipe for
awhile, and I will dance." While the Wolf was piping
and the Kid was dancing, the Dogs hearing the music
ran up to see what was going on, and the Wolf was
glad to take himself off as fast as his legs would
carry him.
He who steps out of his way to play the fool, must
not wonder if he misses the prize.




FABLE CLIX.
VENUS ANI) THE CAT.
A CAT having fallen in love with a young man,
besought Venus to change her into a girl, in the
hope of gaining his affections. The Goddess taking
compassion on her weakness, metamorphosed her into
a fair damsel; and the young man, enamored of her
beauty, led her home as his bride.  As they were
sitting in their chamber, Venus, wishing to know
whether in changing her form she had also changed
her nature, set down a MIouse before her. The Girl,
forgetful of her new condition, started from her seat,
and pounced upon the Mouse, as if she would have eaten
it on the spot; whereupon the Goddess, provoked at
her frivolity, straightway turned her into a Cat again.
What is bred in the bone, will never out of the flesh.




FABLE CLX.
TItE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.
AN Ass having put on a Lion's skin, roamed about,
frightening all the silly animals he met with, and, seeing
a Fox, he tried to alarm  him also.  But Reynard,
having heard his voice, said, " WVell, to be sure! and I
should have been firightened too, if I had not heard
you bray."




174         THE CHARGER AND THE ASS.
They who assume a character that does not belong
to them generally betray themselves by overacting it.
FABLE CLXI.
TIHE CHARGER AND THE ASS.
A CHARGER adorned with his fine trappings came
thundering along the road, exciting the envy of a poor
Ass, who was trudging along the same way with a
heavy load upon his back. "Get out of my road!"
said the proud Horse, "or I shall trample you under
my feet." The Ass said nothing, but quietly moved
on one side to let the Horse pass.  Not long afterwards the Charger was engaged in the wars, and being
badly wounded in battle was rendered unfit for military
service, and sent to work upon a farm. When the Ass
saw him dragging with great labor a heavy wagon,
he understood how little reason he had had to envy
one who, by his overbearing spirit in the time of his
prosperity, had lost those friends who might have
succored him in time of need.




FABLE CLXII.
THE GOAT AND THE GOATHERD.
A GOAT had strayed from the herd, and the Goatherd was trying all he could to bring him back to
his companions. When by calling and whistling he
could make no impression on him, at last, taking up a
stone, he struck the Goat on the horn and broke it.
Alarmed at what he had done, he besought the Goat
not to tell his master; but he replied, "O most foolish
of Goatherds! my horn will tell the story, though I
should not utter a word."
Facts speak plainer than words.
FABLE CLXIII.
THE ANT AND THE DOVE.
AN Ant went to a fountain to quench his thirst, and
tumbling in, was almost drowned. But a Dove that
happened to be sitting on a neighboring tree saw the




176           THE BOYS ANDD ITE F-tOSG.
Ant's dangelr, and plucking off a leaf, let it drop into
the water ief iore him, and the Ant mounting upon it,
was presently wafted safe ashore.  Just at that time, a
Fowler iwas spreading his net, and was in the act of
ensnaring the Dove, when the Ant, perceiving his object,
bit his heel. The start which the man gave made him
drop his net, and the Dove, aroused to a sense of her
dclanger, flew safe away.
Olle good turn deserves another.
FABLE CLXIV.
TIHE BOYS AND TIIE FROGS.
A TnOOP of Boys were playing' at the edge of a pond,
when, perceiving a number of Frogs in the water,
they began to pelt at them  with stones.  They had
already killed many of tl-e poor creatures, when one
more hardy than the rest putting his head above the
water, cried out to them: " Stop your cruel sport, my
lads; consider, wrhat is Play to you is Dentlh to 2s."




FABLE CLXV.
TIIE MOUSE AND TIIE WEASEL.
A LITrrLE starveling Mouse had made his way writh
some difficulty into a basket of corn, where, finding
the entertainment so good, he stuffed and crammed
hnimself to such an extent, that when he would have
grot out again, he found the hole was too small to allow
his puffed-up body to p)ass.  As lie sat at the hole
groaning over his fate, a Weasel, who was brought to
the spot by his cries, thus addressed him:-" Stop




178         THE FARMER AND THE LION
there, my fiiend, and fast till you are thin; for you will
never come out till you reduce yourself to the same
condition as when you entered."
FABLE CLXVI.
THE FARMER AND TTIE LION.
A LIoN entered one day into a farm-yard, and the
Farmer, wishing to catch him, shut the gate. When
the Lion found that he could not get out, he began
at once to attack the sheep, and then betook himself to the oxen. So the Farmer, afraid for himself;
now opened the gate, and the Lion made off as fast
as he could. His wife, who had observed it all, when
she saw her husband in great trouble at the loss of
his cattle, cried out-" You are rightly served; for
what could have made you so mad as to wish to detain
a creature, whom, if you saw at a distance, you would
wish further off."
Bettel scare a thief than snare him.




FABLE CLXV[I1.
THE WOLF AND THE LION.
ONE day a Wolf had seized a sheep firom a fold, and
was carrying it home to his own den, when he met
a Lion, who straightway laid hold of the sheep and
bore it away. The Wolf, standing at a distance, cried
out, that it was a great shame, and that the Lion had
robbed him of his own. The Lion laughed, and said,
"I suppose, then, that it was your good friend the
shepherd who gave it to you."
FABLE CLXVIII.
THE FARMER AND THE DOGS.
A FARMER, during a severe winter, being shut up by
the snow in his farm-house, and sharply pressed for
food, which he was unable to get about to procure,
began consuming his own sheep. As the hard weather




ISO     THE LION AND HIS THIEE COUNCILLORS.
continued, he next ate up his goats. And at last-for
there was no break in the weather-he betook himself
to the plough-oxen. Upon this, the Dogs said to one
another, "Let us be off; for since the master, as we
see, has had no pity on the working oxen, how is it
likely he will spare us')
When our neighbor's house is on fire, it is time to
look to our own.
FABLE CLXIX.
THE LION AND HIS THREE COUNCILLORS.
THE Lion called the Sheep to ask her if his breath
smelt: she said Ay; he bit off her head for a fool.
He called the Wolf, and asked him: he said No; he
tore him in pieces for a flatterer.  At last he called
the Fox, and ask6d him. Truly he had got a cold, and
could not smell.
Wise men say nothing in danrgelrous times.




FABLE CLXX.
THE GREAT AND TIlE LITTLE FISthES.
A FIsnHERmAN was drawinvg up a net which he had
cast into the sea, full of all sorts of fish. The Little
Fish escaped through the meshes of the net, and got
back into the deep, but the Great Fish were all caught
and hauled into the ship.
Oui insigcnificance     is often the cause of our safety.




FABLE CLXXI.
THE ASS, THE COCK, AND THE LION.
AN Ass and a Cock lived in a farm-yard together.
One day a hungry Lion passing by and seeing the
Ass in good condition, resolved to make a meal of him.
Now, they say that there is nothing a Lion hates so
much as the crowing of a Cock; and at that moment
the Cock happening to crow, the Lion straightway made
off with all haste from the spot. The Ass, mightily
amused to think that a Lion should be frightened at
a bird, plucked up courage and gallopped after him,
delighted with the notion of driving the king of beasts
before him. He had, however, gone no great distance,
when the Lion turned sharply round upon him, and
made an end of him in a trice.
Presumption begins in ignorance and ends in ruin.




FABLE CLXXII.
TIIE WOLF AND THE GOAT.
A WOLF seeing a Goat feeding on the brow of a high
precipice where he could not come at her, besought
her to come down lower, for fear she should miss her
footing at that dizzy height; " and moreover," said he,
"the grass is far sweeter and more abundant here
below."  But the Goat replied: "Excuse me; it is not
for my dinner that you invite me, but for your own."
FABLE CLXXIII.
THE LEOPARD AND THE FOX.
A LEOPARD and a Fox had a contest which was the
finer creature of the two. The Leopard put forward
the beauty of its numberless spots; but the Fox
replied-" It is better to have a versatile mind than
a variegated body."




FABLE CLXXIV.
THE MAN AND HIS TWO WIVES.
IN days when a man was allowed more wives than
one, a middle-aged bachelor, who could be called neither
young nor old, and whose hair was only just beginning
to turn gray, must needs fall in love with two women at
once, and marry them both. The one was young and
blooming, and wished her husband to appear as youthffil as herself; the other was somewhat more advanced
in age, and was as anxious that her husband should
appear a suitable match for her. So, while the young
one seized every opportunity of pulling out the good
man's gray hairs, the old one was as industrious in
plucking out every black hair she could find. For a
while the man was highly gratified by their attention
and devotion, till he found one morning that, between
the one and the other, he had not a hair left.
I-Ie that submits his principles to the influence
and caprices of opposite parties will end in having
no principles at all.




i'A ULE CLXXV.
THE VINE AND THE GOAT.
TIIERE was a Vine teeming with ripe firuit and tender
shoots, when a wanton Goat came up and gnawed
the bark, and browsed upon the young leaves. "I'will revenge myself on you," said the Vine, " for
this insult; for when in a few days you are brought as
a victim to the altar, the juice of my grapes shall be
the dew of death upon1 thy forehead."
Retriboution though late comes at last.
24




FABLE CLXXVI.
TIE RIVERS AND THE SEA.
ONCE upon a time the Rivers combined against the
Sea, and, going in a body, accused her, saying: " Why
is it that when we Rivers pour our waters into you so
fresh and sweet, you straightway render them salt and
unpalatable?" The Sea, observing the temper in which
they came, merely answered: " If you do not wish to
become salt, please to keep away from me altogether."
Those who are most benefited are often the first
to complain.
FABLE CLXXVII.
THE BLACKAMOOR.
A CERTAIN man bought a Blackamoor, and thinking
that the color of his skin arose from the neglect
of his former master, he no sooner brought him home




THE BOY AND THE NETTLE.         187
than he procured all manner of scouring apparatus,
scrubbing-brushes, soaps, and sand-paper, and set to
work with his servants to wash him white again. They
drenched- and rubbed him for many an hour, but all
in vain; his skin remained as black as ever; while
the poor wretch all but died from the cold he caught
under the operation.
No human means avail of themselves to change a
nature originally evil.
FABLE CLXXVIII.
THE 3BOY AND THE NETTLE.
A BoY playing in the fields got stung by a Nettle.
He ran home to his mother, telling her that he had but
touched that nasty weed, and it had stung him. "It
was your just touching it, my boy," said the mother,
"that caused it to sting you; the next time you meddle
with a Nettle, grasp it tightly, and it will do you no
hurt."
Do boldly what you do at all




FABLE CLXXIX.
THE SEA-SIDE TRAVELLERS.
As some Travellers were making their way along the
sea-shore, they came to a high cliff, and looking out
upon the sea saw a Fagot floating at a distance, which
they thought at first must be a large Ship; so they
waited, expecting to see it come into harbor.  As
the Fagot drifted nearer to the shore, they thought it
no longer to be a Ship, but a Boat. But when it was
at length thrown on the beach, they saw that it was
nothing but a Fagot after all.
Dangers seem greatest at a distance; and coming
events are magnified according to the interest or inclination of the beholder.




FABLE CLXXX. 
THE FOX AND TIIE ClROW.'i
A CRow had snatched a goodly piece
of cheese out of a window, and flew
with it into a high tree, intent on enjoy-   3
morsel, and thus he planned his approaches.  "O Crow," said he, "ho Iow 
beautiful are thy wings, how brigllt
thine eye! how graceful thy necek!
thy breast is the breast of an        J
eagle!  thy claws-I beg pardon-thy  talons, are a match
QU P111" I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(I




190           THE FOX AND TIHE CROW
for all the beasts of the field. 0! that such a bird should
be dumb, and want only a voice!" The Crow, pleased
with the flattery, and chuckling to think how she would
surprise the Fox with her caw, opened her mouth:down dropped the cheese! which the Fox snapping up,
observed, as he walked away, "that whatever he had
remarked of her beauty, he had said nothing yet of
her brains."
Men seldom flatter without some private eild in view;
and they who listen to such music may expect to have
to pay the piper.




FABLE CLXXXI.
TIlE SICK KITE.
A KITE, who had been long very ill, said to his
mother, "Don't cry, mother; but go and pray to the
gods that I may recover from this dreadful disease and
pain."  "Alas! child," said the mother, "which of the
gods can I entreat for one who has robbed all their
altars?"
A death-bed repentance is poor amends for the
errors of a life-time.
FABLE CLXXXII.
THE MONKEY AND THE FISHERMEN.
A MONKEY was sitting up in a high tree, when
seeing some Fishermen laying their nets in a river,
he watched what they were doing. The Men had no
sooner set their nets, and retired a short distance to
their dinner, than the Monkey came down from the




1'2'rTHE THREE TRADESMEN.
tree, thinking that he would try his hand at the same
sport.  But in attempting to lay the nets he got so
entangled in them, that being well nigh choked, he
was forced to exclaim:'This serves me right; for
what business had I, who know nothing of fisiling, to
meddle with such tackle as this?"
FABLE CLXXXIII.
TIIE THREE TRADESAMEN.
THEnnE was a city in expectation of being besieged,
and a council was called accordingly to discuss the best
means of fortifying it. A Bricklayer gave Ihis opinion
that no material was so good as brick for the purpose.
A Carpenter blegged leave to suggest that timlber would
be far preferable.  Upon which a Currier started up,
and said, "Sirs, when you have said all that can be
said, there is nothing in the world like leather."




FABLE CLXXXIV.
TIHE ASS'S SHADOW.
A YouTh, one hot summer's day, hired an Ass to
carry him from Athens to Megara. At mid-day the
heat of the sun was so scorching, that he dismounted,
and would have sat down to repose himself under the
shadow of the Ass. But the driver of the Ass disputed the place with him, declaring that he had an
equal right to it with the other. " What!" said the
Youth, "did I not hire the Ass for the whole journey?':
"Yes," said the othexi, "you hired the Ass, but not th-,E
Ass's Shadcw."  While they were thus wrangling and
fighting for the platce the Ass took to his heels and.




FABLE CLXXXV.
TIIE EAGLE AND TIIE BEETLE.
A HARE being pursued by an Eagle, betook himself
fer refuge to the nest of a Beetle, whom he entreated
to save him. The Beetle therefore interceded with the
Eagle, begging of him not to kill the poor suppliant,
and conjurling him, by mighty Jupiter, not to slight his
intercession and break tbe laws of hospitality because
he was so small an animal. But the Eagle, in wrath,
gave the Beetle a flap with his wing, and straightway
seized upon the Hare and devoured him. When the
Eagle flew away, the Beetle flew after him, to learn
where his nest was, andl getting into it, he rolled the
Eagle's eggs out of it one )by one, and broke them. The
Eagle, grieved and enraged to think that any one should
attempt so audacious a thing, built his nest the next
time in a higher place; but there too the Beetle got at
it again, and served him in the same manner as before.
Upon this the Eagle, being at a loss wh-lzat to do, flew up
to Jupiter, his Lord and King, and placed the third
brood of eggs, as a sacred deposit, in his lap, begging




THE EAGLE AND THE BEETLE.         195
him to guard them for him. But the Beetle, having  made
a little ball of dirt, flew up with it and dropped it in
Jupiter's lap; who, rising up on a sudden to shake it
off, and forgetting the eggs, threw them down, and they
were again'broken. Jupiter being informed by the
Beetle that he had done this to be revenged upon the
Eagle, who had not only wronged him, but had acted
impiously towards Jove himself, told the Eagle, when
he came to him, that the Beetle was the aggrieved
party, and that he complained not without reason. But
being unwilling that the race of Eagles should be dinminished, he advised the Beetle to come to an accommodation with the Eagle. As the Beetle would not agree
to this, Jupiter transferred the Eagle's breeding to
another season, when there are no Beetles to be seen.
No one can slight the laws of hospitality with
impunity; and there is no station or influence, however powerful, that can protect the oppressor, in the
end, fiom the vengeance of the oppressed.




FABLE CLXXXVI.
THE LION AND THE BULLS.
THREE Bulls fed in a field together in the greatest
peace and amity. A Lion had long watched them in
the hope of making prize of them, but found that there
was little chance for him  so long as they kept all
together. He therefore began secretly to spread evil
and slanderous reports of one against the other, till he
had fomented a jealousy and distrust amongst them.
No sooner did the Lion see that they avoided one
another, and fed each by himself apart, than he fell
upon them singly, and so made an easy prey of them
all.
The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.




iic              "
FABLE CLXXXVII.
THE
i:OLD WOMAN AND -IER MAIDS.
A THRIFTY old Widow kept two
Servant-maids, whom she used tG
call up to their -work at cock-crow.
The Maids disliked exceedingly
this early rising, and determined' L =_   between themselves to wring off




198          TIHE DOGS AND THE HIDES.
the Cock's neck, as he was the cause of all their
trouble by waking their mistress so early. They had
no sooner done this, than the old lady missing her
usual alarum, and afraid of oversleeping herself, continually mistook the time of day, and roused them up
at midnight.
Too much cunning overreaches itself.
FABLE CLXXXVIII.
THE DOGS AND THE HIDES.
SoiIE hungry Dogs, seeing some raw Hides which a
skinner had left in the bottom of a stream, and not
being able to reach them, agreed among themselves to
drink up the river to get at the prize. So they set to
work, but they all burst themselves with drinking before
ever they came near the Hides.
They who aim at an object by unreasonable means,
are apt to ruin themselves in the attempt.




FABLE CLXXXIX.
THE SHEPHERD AND THE SEA.
A SHEPHERD moved down his flock to- feed near the
shore, and beholding the Sea lying in a smooth and
breathless calm, he was seized with a strong desire to
sail over it. So he sold all his sheep and bought a
cargo of Dates, and loaded a vessel, and set sail. IIe
had not gone far when a storm arose; his ship was
wrecked, and his Dates and everything lost, and he
himself with difficulty escaped to land. Not long after,
when the Sea was again calm, and one of his friends
came up to him and was admiring its repose, he said,
"IHave a care, my good fellow, of that smooth surface,
it is only looking out for your Dates."




FABLE CXC.
THE OLD LION.
A LION worn out with years lay stretched upon the
ground, utterly helpless, and drawing his last breath.
A Boar came up, and to satisfy an ancient grudge,
drove at him with his tusks. Next a Bull, determined
to be revenged on an old enemy, gored him with his
horns. Upon this an Ass, seeing that the old Lion could
thus be treated with impunity, thought that he would
show his spite also, and came and threw his heels in the
Lion's face. Whereupon the dying beast exclaimed:
"The insults of the powerful were bad enough, but
those I could have managed to bear; but to be spurned
by so base a creature as thou-the disgrace of nature,
is to die a double death."




FABLE CXCI.
TIlE MISER.
A MISER, to make sure of his property, sold all that
he had, and converted it into a great lump of gold,
which he hid in a hole in the ground, and went con.
tinually to visit and inspect it.  This roused the
curiosity of one of his workmen, who, suspecting that
there Nwas a treasure, when his master's back w,a
turned, went to the spot, and stole it away.  When
26




202        THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERIDS.
the Miser returned and found the place empty, he
wept and tore his hair.  But a neighbor who saw
him in this extravagant grief, and learned the cause
of it, said, "Fret thyself no longer, but take a stone
and put it in the same place, and think that it
is your lump of gold; for, as you never meant to use
it, the one will do you as much good as the other."
The worth of money is not in its possession, but in
its use.
FABLE CXCII.
THE WOLF AND TtIE SIEPHERDS.
A WOLF looking into a hut and seeing some Shepherds
comfortably regaling themselves on a joint of mutton" A pretty row," said he, " would these men have made
if they had caught me at such a supper!"
Men are too apt to condemn in others the very
things that they practise themselves.




F'ABLrE CXCIII.
TIlE SWALLOW IN CHANCERY.
A SWALLOW had built her nest under the eaves ( f
at Court of Justice.  Before her young ones could
fly, a Serpent gliding out of his hole ate them  all
up. When the poor bird returned to her nest and
found it empty, she began a pitiable wailing; but a
neighbor suggesting, by way of comfort, that she was
not the first bird who had lost her young, "True,"
she replied, " but it is not only my little ones that I
mourn, but that I should have been wronged in that
very place where the injured fly for justice."
FABLE CXCIV.
THE RAVEN AND THE SWAN.
A  RAVEN envied a Swan the whiteness of h1er
plumage; and, thinking that its beauty was owing
to the water in which she lived, he deserted the altars




204         THE WILD BOAR AND THE FOX.
where he used to find his livelihood, and betook himself
to the pools and streams. There he plumed and dressed
himself and washed his coat, but all to no purpose, for
his plumage remained as black as ever, and he himself
soon perished for want of his usual food.
Change of scene is not change of nature.
]FABLE CXCV.
THE WILD BOAR AND TIIE FOX.
A WILD Boar was whetting his tusks against a tree,
when a Fox coming by asked why he did so; "For,"
said he, "I see no reason for it; there is neither
hunter nor hound in sight, nor any other danger that I
can see, at hand."  "True," replied the Boar; "but
when that danger does arise, I shall have something
else to do than to sharpen my weapons."
It is too late to whet the sword when the trumpet
sounds to draw it.




FAB LE CXCVI.
THE STAG AT THE POOL.
A STAG one summer's day came
t to a pool to quench his thirst,
//~i~;I and as he stood drinking he saw
yt'/
S///il "rl~W




206           THE STAG AT THE POOL.
his form reflected in the water. "What beauty and
strength," said he, "are in these horns of mine; but
how unseemly are these weak and slender feet!" While
he was thus criticizing, after his own fancies, the form
which Nature had given him, the huntsmen and hounds
drew that way. The feet, with which he had found so
much fault, soon carried him out of the reach of his
pursuers; but the horns, of which he was so vain,
oecoming entangled in a thicket, held him till the
hunters again came up to him, and proved the cause of
his death.
Look to use before ornament.




FABLE CXCVII.
THE ASTRONOMER.
AN Astronomer used to walk out every night to
gaze upon the stars. It happened one night that, as he
was wandering in the outskirts of the city, with his
whole thoughts rapt up in the skies, he fell into a well.
On his holloaing and calling out, one who heard his
cries ran up to him, and when he had listened to his
story, said, "My good man, while you are trying to
pry into the mysteries of heaven, you overlook the
common olbjects that are under your feet."
FABLE CXCVIII.
TIlE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.
A WOLF, once upon a time, resolved to disguise
himself, thinking that he should thus gain an easier
livelihood.  HIaving, therefore, clothed himself in a
sheep's skin, he contrived to get among a flock of Sheep,




208       THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.
and feed along with them, so that even the Shepherd
was deceivedl by the imposture. When night came on
and the fold was closed, the Wolf was shut up with the
Sheep, and the door made fast. But the Shepherd,
wanting something for his supper, and going in to fetch
out a sheep, mistook the Wolf for one of them, and
killed him on the spot.




F.,BLE CXCIX.
THE BOASTING TRAVELLER.
A MAN who had been travelling in foreign parts, on
his return home was always bragging and boasting
of the great feats he had accomplished in different
places. In Rhodes, for instance, he said he had taken
such an extraordinary leap, that no man could come
near him, and he had witnesses there to prove it
27




2 U)      THEIT HUNTER AND THE WOODMAN.
"Possibly," said one of his hearers; "but if this  ee
true, just suppose this to be Rhodes, and then try
the leap again."
FABLE CU.
TITE HUNTER AND THIE WOODMAN.
A MAN went out Lion-hunting into a forest, where
meeting with a Woodman, he asked him if he had
seen any tracks of a Lion, and if he knew where his
lair was. "Yes," says the Man, "and if you will come
with me I will show you the Lion himself." At this
the Hunter, turning ghastly pale, and his teeth chattering, said, "Oh! thank you; it was the Lion's track,
not himself, that I was hunting."
A coward can be a hero at a distance; it is presence
of danger that tests presence of mind.




FABLE CCI.
MERCURY AND TIlE SCULPTOR.
ME}RCUIY having a mind to know in what estimation
he was held among men, disguised himself as a traveller,
and going into a Sculptor's workshop, began asking the
price of the different statues he saw there. Pointing to
an image of Jupiter, he asked how much he wanted for
that. "A drachma," said the image-maker. Mercury
laughed in his sleeve, and asked, " How much for this
of Juno?"  The man wanted a higher price for that.
Mercury's eye now caught his own image.  "Now,
will this fellow," thought he, "ask me ten times as much
for this, for I am the messenger of heaven, and the
source of all his gain."  So he put the question to him,
what he valued that Mercury at. "Well," says the
Sculptor, "if you will give me my price for the other
two, I will throw you that into the bargain."
They who are over anxious to know how the
world values them, will seldom be set down at their
own price.




FABLE CCII.
THE WOLF AND THE HORSE.
As a Wolf was roaming over a farm, he came to a
field of oats, but not being able to eat them, he left
them and went his way. Presently meeting with a
Horse, he bade him come with him into the field;
"For," says he, "I have found some capital oats; and
I have not tasted one, but have kept them all for you,
for the very sound of your teeth is music to my ear."
But the Horse replied: "A pretty fellow! if Wolves
were able to eat oats, I suspect you would not have
preferred your ears to your appetite."
Little thanks are due to him who only gives away
what is of no use to himself.




FABLE CCIII.
THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS.
A MILLER and his Son were driving their Ass to a
neighboring fair to sell him. They had not gone far
when they met with a troop of girls returning from the
town, talking and laughing. "Look there!" cried one
of them, " did you ever see such fools, to be trudging
along the road on foot, when they might be riding!"




214     THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS.
The old nlMan, hearing this, quietly bade his Son get
on the Ass, and walked along merrily by the side of
him. Presently they came up to a group of old men
in earnest debate.  "There!:" said one of them, "it
proves what I was a-saying. What respect is shown
to old age in these days? Do you see that idle young
rogue riding, while his old father has to walk?-Get
down, you scapegrace! and let the old Man rest his
weary limbs." Upon lthis the Father made his Son dismount, and got up himself. In this manner they had
not proceeded far when they met a company of women
and children.  " Why, you lazy old fellow!" cried
several tongues at once, " how can you ride upon the
beast, while that poor little lad there can hardly keep
pace by the side of you." The good-natured Miller stood
corrected, and immediately took up his Son behind
him. They had now almost reached the town. " Pray,
honest friend," said a townsman, "is that Ass your
own?"  "Yes," says the old Man. "Oh! One would
not have thought so," said the other, "by the way
you load him. Why, you two fellows are better able
to carry the poor beast than he you!"  "Anything
to please you," said the old Man; "we can but try."
So, alighting with his Son, they tied the Ass's legs




THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS.   215
together, and by the help of a pole endeavored to
carry him on their shoulders over a bridge that led
to the town. This was so entertaining a sight that
the people ran out in crowds to laugh at it; till
the Ass, not liking the noise nor his situation, kicked
asunder the cords that bound him, and, tumbling off
the pole, fell into the river. Upon this the old Man,
vexed and ashamed, made the best of his way home
again —convinced that by endeavoring to please everybc(y, he had pleased nobody, and lost his Ass into
the bargain...~    rr~ih"~_~:%   ill.;:"P








A.
FABLE                                                     PAUG
LXV.-ANGL FR AND THE LITTLE FISH.                         80
CLXIII.-ANT AND THE DOVE.                           175
XIII.-AlNT AND THE GRASSHOPPER..  31
cxxIv.-ARAB AND THE CAMEL.                               141
cLxxI.-Ass, THE COCK, AND THE LION                       182
cxxIx.-Ass  AND HIS DRIVER.                            145
cxxvII.-Ass, THE FOX, AND THE LION.                143
XLII.-ASS AND THE GRASSHOPPER.....                       58
LXIII.-ASS AND THE LAP-DOG......                        77
CLX.- ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN..         173
cxIx.-Ass  AND HIS MASTERS                               136
xcvI.-Ass CARRYING SALT.......       111
CLXXXIV. -ASS'S SHADOW..      193
CXCVII.-ASTRONOMER........   207
B.
CXLV.-BALD KNIGHT                                         160
XxII.-BEAR AND THE Fox...  38
CXXXI.-BEES, THE DRONES, AND THE WASP.                   147
XC[X.-BEEVES AND THE BUTCHERS..                       114
LVI.-BELLY AND THE MEMBERS..                           71
28




218                         INDEX.
FABLE                                                   l'AtUI
LXXXVIII.-BIRDCATCHER AND THE LARK                        102
CXXX.-BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BAT..  146
CLXXVII. -BLACKA1IOOR..                              186
LVIII.- BLIND MAN AND THE WHELP..                   72
CXCIx.- BOASTING TRAVELLER...                 209
II.-BOWMAN AND THE LION..    22
CXLVII.-BOY BATHING                                     162
CLIII.-BOY AND THE FILBERTS....                      167
CLXXVIII.-BOY AND THE NETTLE (M).... 187
XI.-BOY AND THE SCORPION...   30
CLXIV.-BOYS AND THE FROGS..... 176
CLV. -BRAZIER AND HIS DOG..                      168
CLI.-BULL AND THE GOAT...                      165
LXXXV.-BUNDLE OF STICKS.                                99
C.
CII.-CAT AND THE MICE                                117
CLXI.-CIIARGER AND THE ASS.                           174
xv.-COCK AND THE JEWEL..  33
LXX.-COLLIER AND THE FULLER......                     85
XCVIII.-COUNTRYIMAID AND HER M[ILK-CAN (AM)             113
XXX.-COUNTRIYMAN AND THE SNAKE...            45
XXXIV.-COUNTRY }MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE                 50
XLV.-CRAB AND HER MOTHER.......                    60
XXVIII.-CREAKING WHEELS......                       43
LI.-CROW AND THE PITCHER.......      65
D.
CXXvI.-DOCTOR AND HIS PATIENT.                        142
XXIV.-DOG, THE COCK, AND THE FOX..    40
cvI.-DOG IN THE lMANGER,...               121
LXXXII.-DOG AND HIS MASTER..  




INDEX.                           219
FABLE                                                    PAGF
xxxIII.-DOG AND THE SHADOW... 49
CXIII. DOG INVITED TO SUPPER.                          129
CLXXXVIII.-DOGS AND THE HIDES.                             198
LVII.-DOLPIIINS AND THE SPRAT.                72
LXII.-DOVE AND THE CROW..                              76
E.
C.-EAGLE AND THE ARROT.115
C(LXXXV.-EAGLE AND THE BEETLE......                 194
IX.-EAGLE AND THE FOX......  28
CXXXVII.-EAGLE AND THE JACKDAW..                          153
F.
CXLI.-FALCONER AND THE PARTRIDGE.                      156
CXXXIX.-FARHIER AND THE CRANES                            155
CLXVIII.-FARMER AND THE DOGS. 179
CLXVI.-FARMER AND THE LION                               178
LXXI.-FAnRER AND HIS SONS......         86
LXVII.-FARTHING RUSHLIGHT..                        83
CXL.-FATHER AND HIS Two DAUGHTERS.                    155
XIV.-FAWVN AND HER AMOTHER......                 32
XXXVI.-FIGHTING-COCKS AND THE EAGLE.....    53
CXVIII.-FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE......               135
CXXII.-FISHERMAN....... 139
XVI.-FISHERMAN PIPING.......                     34
XIx.-FLIES AND THE HONEY-POT......  36
CLxXX.-FOX AND TiE CROW......      189
vI.- FOX AND THE GOAT.......  25
I. FOX AND THE GRAPES....   21
cIx.-FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG...... 123
XXVII.-FOX AND TIlE LION.......   43
CXXXVI.- FOX AND THE nMASK.               152




?Asr i                               I
CXLVIo.-FOX AN:TD THE STOrtT....  1 (
LIX. —FOX AND TlHE W'OOD3MAN.  73
LXXXIII. —!OX WITHOUT A TAIL                                   97
XXIX. —-FOG AND THE  X..   4
cxrvr.-F-LfocGs ASXKING FOR'  A KI'..                 131
a.
xcv. -- CEESE AND THIE CRANE:S. ~  110
Cvl-. —-.AT.A:ND Tl:E BULL.                   120
CLXII. —— kGOAT AND THIE GOATHER::D..          175
CI.- - ATIIEPD AND THE GOATS..                116
CX._ —-_OSr:  WITIH THE GOLDE;N LGGS..            125
CLXX. —GREAT AND TIIE LITTLE FISHIS...                      181
XXVI.-GULL AND THE KITE..                 42
II.
L. —IHAEE AND TIlE HOUND....       64
XL.-h-IARE AND THE r TORTOISE                               57
LXIV. —IIAES AIND THIE FROGS....       79
CXLIX. —IJAPRT AND TITE VINE.... 163
CXXXIV. —IFEDGE AND TTE VTNEVYARD (.1)..         151
CXLII.-TTEIFER AND TILE 0X.....        157
XXXIX.-HEN AND TILE CAT...... 55
LX. —TIEnRCULES AND TILE WAG-ONER.                       75
CLVI.-tiERDSMAN AND TIHE LOST BULL....    169
CLII. —T-OUND AND THE   ARE.....  166
XlIII. —}IOESE AND, THE GRnOOM.... t  35
CXXXIII.-H-IORSE AND THE IOADED ASS.          149
XCI. —-HORSE AND THE STAG.......          105
XXIXII. —— ITOUSE-DOG AND TIE NWOLF..             47
CXVII. —-HUNTER AND THE FISHIERMIAN.               1341
CC, —I1U NTER  AND TIIE'WOODLAN.. 21t)




INDEX.                           2A21
FABLR'ACG F.
CXLVIII. — ISuBANDMIAN AND THE SEA                          1 (;3
LXIX.-JJUSBANDMAN AND THE STORK..             84
J.
CLIV. —JACKASS IN OFFICE.                                167
XC.-JUPITER AND THE BEE..                              104
XLVI.-JUPITEtR AND THE CAMIEL.                         60
LXXXVI.-JUPITER. NEPTUNE, nMINERVA, AND  IOMIUS.. 100
K.
IV.-KID AND THE WOLF..... 24
ZLVIII.-KID AND THE TOLF.. 171
VII.-KITE AND THE PIGEONS.27
L.
XLIV. —LAMB AND TIlE XWOLF..   59
cXxI.-LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES.                           138
CLXXIII.-LEOPARD AND TIE FOX..183
CXLIII. —IION ANi) ASS IIUNTING.158
LIII.-LION, THE ASS, AND THE FOX tHUNTING...  67
CVIII.LLION, THE BEAR, AND THE Fox                        123
CLVII.-LION AND OTHER BEASTS HUNTING...    170
CLXXXVI.-LION AND THE BULLS......                        196
CLXIX. —LON AND hIIS THREE COUNCILLORS                     180
CXI.-LION AND THE DOLPHIN......           126
xxxI.-LION AND THE Fox.                                46
cxXXV.-LJTON A;ND THE GOAT.......                         151
LXXIV.-LION IN LOVE                                         89
xxv.-LION AND THE nMOUSE.  41
LXVIII.-LIONESS.........                            83
LXXX.-MAN BITTEN BY A DO...             95
LXXXI. —AIAN AND THIE LION                                  95




222S~~              JIND EX.
F ABLE                                                   PAGE
XVII. -MAN AND THE SATYR.     34
CLXXIV. -AIAN AND HIS TWO  VIVES.                       184
CIII. -MJARRIAGE OF THE SUN...           118
CCI. — IERCURY AND THE SCULPTOR..        211
XCIII.-MIERCURY AND THE WOODMAN.  107
CVII.-MICE IN COUNCIL (M).                             122
CXXXII. -IICE AND THE WVEASELS..                     148
CCIII. —AILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS (Al)             213
XCIV. —IISCHIEVOUS DOG....                           109
CXCI.-ISER....                                         201
LXXV.-MIOLE AND HER PMOTHER...                 90
LXI.- IONKEY AND THE CAMEL                              75
LXXVI. -AIMONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN                          91
CLXXXII.-M ONTKEY AND THE FISHERMAN                        191
XXXV.- MOON AND HER MIOTHER.                             52
V.-M OUNTAIN IN LAOR....                           24
CXII. -MOUNTEBANI AND THE COUNTRYMAN                    127
XXIII. -MOUSE AND THE FROG...           39
CLXV.-M iOUSE AND TIIE WEASEL..                    177
XXXVIII.-  ULE                                              55
N.
LXXXVII.-NURSE AND THE WOLF                               101
0.
XCII.-OAK AND THE REED...                         10
XII. —OLD IIOUID.....31
CXC.-OLD LION...                    00
OXXIII.-OLD [MAN AND DEATH..                       140
CLXXXVII.-OLD WVOMAN AND HER AIAIDS.                       197
LXXII.-OLD WVOMAN AND THE PHYSICIAN                       87
XL.-OLD ~W-OM3AN AND THE WTINE-JAR..                 56
LII.-ONE-EYED DOE..                                    66




INDEX.                           223
P.
FABLE                                                     PAGE
XLVIIf. —POMIEGRANATE, THIE APPLE, AND THE BRAnIMBLE..    62
CL.-PORKER AND THE SHEEP..... 164
Q.
XCVII.-QUACK FROG.                                       112
R.
CXCIV.-PLAVEN AND THE SnTAN.                    203
CLXXVI.-RIVERS AND THE SEA.. 186
S.
CLXXIX.-SEA-SIDE TRAVELLERS..  88
CLXXXIX.-SHEPHERD AND THE SEA..].
XLVII.-SHEPIIERD-EOY AND THE WVOLF.  61
CLXXXI.-SICK KITE.....191
CXLIV.-SICK LION...                                    159
XLIII.-SICK STAG                                          59
XLIX.-STAG IN THE OX-STALL.....      63
CXCVI.-STAG AT TIIE POOL.                                205
CXCIII.-SWVALLOVJ IN CHANCERY                             203
LXXIX. —SrWALLOXV AND THE RAVEN.....    94
T.
CXV.-THIEF AND THE DOG..                               133
CIv.-THIEF AND HIS MIOTHER....                      119:XXXVIII.-THmRsTY PIGEON......     154
CIXXXIII.-THREE TRADESMEN.....192
XXXVI. —ToRTOISE AND THE EAGLE....                       54
LV.-TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR..  69
CXXV.-TRAVELLERS AND THE HATCHET...                 142
LXXXIX.-TRAVELLERS AND TIIE PLANE-TREE.           103
LIV. —TEES &ND TIE AXE.....  68




224                           INDEX.
FABLE                                                      PAOI~
CXVI. —TnuIMPETER TAKEN PIISONEl.       34
cxx.-Two POTS...       137
XX. —TAVO WALLETS.   -.                                36
V.
X. —VAIN JACKDA.                                 29
CLIX. —VENUS AND TIIE CAT.                                1 72
CLXXV.-VINE AND THE GOAT..                           185
LXXXIV. -VIPER AND TIIE FILE.                     98
W.
VII.- VIDOWV  AND TIIE HEN...                     26
LXXVII. —ViTIDOW AND THIE SHIEEP..                     92
CXCV.-W ILD BOAl R AND THE FOX                            204
LXVI.-W TIND AND TIIE SUN..                               1
III.-WOLF AND TIIE CRANE....  23
CLXXII.- ATOLF AND THE GOAT.                               183
CCII.-WYOLF AND TIlE HORSE....       212
XXI. -WOLF AND THE LA         ABB..                     37
CLXVII. — OLF AND THE LION. 179
LXXIIJ.-W TOLF AND TIE SHIEEP....           88
CXXVIII.-WOLF AND THE IEPHEIPtD.... 144
CXCII.- VOLF  AND THE SHEPnHERDS.                         202
CXCVIII.- TWOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING                         207
LXXVIII.-WOLVES AND THE SHEEP..... 93
TIHE END.