The Ants and the Grasshopper
THE ANTS were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected
in the summertime. A Grasshopper,
perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little
food. The Ants inquired of him, "Why did you not treasure up food during
the summer?' He replied, "I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in singing."
They then said in derision: "If you were foolish enough to sing all the
summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.
Hercules and the Wagoner
A CARTER was driving a wagon along a country lane, when the wheels
sank down deep into a rut. The rustic driver, stupefied and aghast, stood
looking at the wagon, and did nothing but utter loud cries to Hercules to come
and help him. Hercules, it is said, appeared and thus addressed him: "Put
your shoulders to the wheels, my man. Goad on your bullocks, and never more
pray to me for help, until you have done your best to help yourself, or depend
upon it you will henceforth pray in vain."
Self-help is the best help.
The Kingdom of the Lion
THE BEASTS of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He
was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be. During his
reign he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and
beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league, in which the Wolf and
the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the
Hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity. The Hare said, "Oh,
how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place
with impunity by the side of the strong." And after the Hare said this, he
ran for his life.
The Wolf and the Crane
A WOLF who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a Crane, for a
large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the Crane
had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning
and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: "Why, you have surely already had a
sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety
from the mouth and jaws of a wolf."
In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you
escape injury for your pains.
The Fisherman Piping
A FISHERMAN skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the
seashore. Standing on a projecting rock, he played several tunes in the hope
that the fish, attracted by his melody, would of their own accord dance into his
net, which he had placed below. At last, having long waited in vain, he laid
aside his flute, and casting his net into the sea, made an excellent haul of
fish. When he saw them leaping about in the net upon the rock he said: "O
you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance, but now that I
have ceased you do so merrily."
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