THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER\n\nSaid 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? When I see you taking a straight course, I will try and follow."\n\nExample is better than precept.
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1 THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER
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THE FOX AND THE GRAPES\n\nA Fox came at vintage time to a place where ripe grapes were hanging in tempting clusters over the branch of a tree. "I will get them," said the Fox. He made many a spring and jump, but failing each time to secure the prize, he at length walked away, muttering, "Well, what does it matter? The grapes are sour."
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2 THE FOX AND THE GRAPES
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THE WOLF AND THE CRANE\n\nA Wolf had a bone in his throat and ran up and down in the greatest agony, begging every animal he met to relieve him, hinting at the same time that there would be a substantial reward. A Crane, moved by his entreaties, ventured her long neck down the Wolf's throat and drew forth the bone. When she had done it, she modestly asked for the promised reward. To which the Wolf, grinning and showing his teeth, replied, "Ungrateful creature, is it not enough that you have had your head in a Wolf's mouth and brought it out safe?"
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3 THE WOLF AND THE CRANE
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THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPERS\n\nA colony of Ants were busily employed in the care and preservation of their food, which they exposed to the air in heaps around their country habitation.\n\nA Grasshopper, who had chanced to out-live the summer and was ready to die from cold and hunger, approached with great humility and begged that they would relieve his necessity with one grain of wheat or rye. One of the Ants asked him how he had disposed of his time in the summer, that he had not taken pains and laid in a stock as they had done.\n\n"Alas! gentlemen," said he, "I passed away the time merrily and pleasantly in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never once thought of winter."\n\n"If that be the case," replied the Ant, "all I have to say is that they who drink, sing, and dance in summer must starve in winter."
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4 THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPERS
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THE FROGS WHO ASKED FOR A KING\n\nThe commonwealth of Frogs, a discontented race, weary of liberty and fond of change, petitioned Jupiter to grant them a King.\n\nThe good-natured deity, in order to grant their request with as little mischief to them as possible, threw them down a Log. The splash sent them into the greatest terror and amazement, and at first they regarded their new monarch with great reverence and kept at a respectful distance. But by degrees, perceiving his amiable and peaceable disposition, they gradually ventured to approach him with more familiarity, till at length they conceived for him the utmost contempt.\n\nDissatisfied with this state of things, they renewed their request to Jupiter and entreated him to bestow upon them another King.\n\nIn his wrath the Thunderer sent them a Crane, who no sooner took possession of his new dominion than he began to devour his subjects, one after another.\n\nThey were now far more dissatisfied than before. Applying to Jupiter a third time, they were dismissed with the reproof that the evil of which they complained they had imprudently brought upon themselves; and that now they had no other remedy but to submit to it with patience.
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5 THE FROGS WHO ASKED FOR A KING
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THE DONKEY IN THE LION'S SKIN\n\nA Donkey, having put on the skin of a Lion, which he found drying by the roadside, roamed about the forest and amused himself by frightening all the animals that he met. At length, meeting a Fox, he tried to frighten him also; but the Fox no sooner heard the sound of his voice than he exclaimed, "I might possibly have been frightened if I had not heard you bray."
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6 THE DONKEY IN THE LION'S SKIN
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THE MICE IN COUNCIL\n\nThe Mice, being sadly distressed on account of their common enemy the Cat, called a council to devise means of ridding themselves of the annoyance. Many plans were proposed and rejected, till at last it was suggested by a young Mouse that a bell should be hung round the Cat's neck, that having notice of her coming, they might escape to their holes.\n\nThe proposal was hailed with applause and agreed to unanimously. Whereupon an old Mouse, who had sat in silence, got up and said, "That is well, but who will bell the Cat?" The Mice looked one at another, but no one answered.\n\nThe old Mouse said, "It is easy to advise; what is wanted is some one to act."
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7 THE MICE IN COUNCIL
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THE KID AND THE WOLF\n\nA Kid, coming alone from its pasture, was pursued by a Wolf. With great presence of mind the kid turned and said: "I know, Friend Wolf, that you mean to kill me; but as my life is to be short, let it be a merry one. Do you pipe and let me have one more dance before I die." While the Wolf was piping and the Kid was dancing, some Dogs, hearing the music, ran to the place to see what was going on; and the Wolf was glad to take himself off as fast as his legs would carry him.
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8 THE KID AND THE WOLF
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THE HAWK AND THE NIGHTINGALE\n\nThe Nightingale, sitting aloft upon an oak, was seen by a Hawk, who swooped down and seized her. The Nightingale earnestly prayed the Hawk to let her go, saying that she was not big enough to satisfy the hunger of a Hawk, who ought to find plenty of larger birds. "Do you happen to see many large birds flying about?" the Hawk asked. "I should be foolish, indeed, to let you go for the sake of larger birds that are not in sight. A morsel is better than nothing."
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9 THE HAWK AND THE NIGHTINGALE
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THE CROW AND THE PITCHER\n\nA Crow who was nearly perishing with thirst spied a pitcher with a little water in it. Reaching down, he found the water so low that, stooping and straining as he might, he was unable to reach it with his beak. Thereupon he tried to overturn and break the Pitcher. This he was not strong enough to do. At last, seeing some small pebbles, he brought a great many and dropped them one by one, and so raised the water to the brim and quenched his thirst.
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10 THE CROW AND THE PITCHER
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THE ANT AND THE DOVE\n\nGoing to a fountain to quench his thirst, an Ant tumbled in and was ready to drown. But a Dove happened to be perching on a neighboring tree and saw the Ant's danger. Plucking a leaf, the Dove dropped it down into the water, so that the Ant mounting upon it was blown safely to the shore. A Fowler, shortly after, spread his net to entrap the unwary Dove. This the Ant perceived, and bit the Fowler's heel. Distracted by the pain, the Fowler dropped his net with a quick start, and the Dove, aroused to a sense of danger, flew away.\n\nOne good turn deserves another.
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11 THE ANT AND THE DOVE
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THE OX AND THE FROG\n\nAn Ox, grazing in a swampy meadow, chanced to set his foot among a number of young Frogs and trampled nearly all of them to death. One that escaped ran off to his mother with the dreadful news. "It was a beast—such a big four-footed beast—that did it."\n\n"Big?" asked the old Frog, and she puffed herself out, "as big as this?"\n\n"A great deal bigger," said the little one.\n\n"Well, was it so big?" and she swelled herself out yet more.\n\n"Indeed, Mother, but it was; and if you were to burst yourself you would never reach half its size." Vexed that her child should disparage her powers, the Mother Frog made one more trial and burst herself indeed.
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12 THE OX AND THE FROG
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THE BAT AND THE WEASELS\n\nA Bat, falling to the ground, was caught by a Weasel, whom he entreated not to take his life. The Weasel protested that it was against nature for a weasel to let a bird go. Whereupon the Bat insisted that he was not a bird, and to prove it, called attention to his mouse-like head and ears, which so confused the Weasel that he let the Bat go.\n\nSome time afterward, on another flight, the Bat fell again to the ground, and another Weasel caught him. On perceiving that the Weasel thought he was a mouse, the Bat contended that he had wings and therefore was not a mouse, and was again allowed to go free.
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13 THE BAT AND THE WEASELS
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THE FOX AND THE GOAT\n\nA Fox who had fallen into a deep well was casting about to find how he should get out again. At length a Goat came to the place, and seeing Reynard, asked whether the water was good, and if there was plenty.\n\nHiding the real danger in his case, the Fox replied: "The best in the world, and so much of it that it cannot be exhausted. Come down and see." Whereupon the Goat jumped down without more ado. Upon this the crafty Fox jumped upon her horns and nimbly leaped out, remarking to the deluded Goat, "If you had brains to match your beard, you would have looked before you leaped."
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14 THE FOX AND THE GOAT
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THE WOMAN AND HER HEN\n\nA thrifty Woman kept a Hen that could be depended on to lay an egg every morning. The watchful Woman thought within herself, "If I were to double my Hen's allowance of barley, she would lay twice a day." So she tried her plan, and the Hen became so fat and sleek that she left off laying at all.\n\nThrift sometimes overreaches, and figures are not always facts.
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15 THE WOMAN AND HER HEN
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THE DOG IN THE MANGER\n\nA Dog once made his bed in a manger and lay there snarling and growling at whoever came by. The Oxen coming for their provender said: "What a miserable cur! neither to eat the grain himself nor to let any one else eat it!"
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16 THE DOG IN THE MANGER
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THE MOUSE, THE FROG, AND THE HAWK\n\nA Mouse in an evil day made the acquaintance of a Frog, and together they set off on their travels. On pretense of affection and of keeping his companion safe from harm, the Frog tied the Mouse's forefoot to his own hind leg, and thus they proceeded. It worked well enough till they came to some water, and the Frog, bidding the Mouse to have good courage, plunged in and began to swim across. They were barely halfway when the Frog took a sudden plunge to the bottom, dragging the unfortunate Mouse after him. But the struggling of the Mouse made so great a commotion in the water that it attracted the attention of a Hawk, who, pouncing down and bearing away the Mouse, carried the Frog also.\n\nAlliances that are ill-matched generally end in disaster; and the one who compasses the destruction of his neighbor is often caught in his own snare.
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17 THE MOUSE, THE FROG, AND THE HAWK
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THE SHEPHERD BOY AND THE WOLF\n\nA Shepherd boy, tending his flock on the edge of a village, used to amuse himself at times by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" Twice or thrice his trick succeeded. The whole village ran to his assistance, only to be laughed at for their pains. At last, one day, the Wolf came indeed. The Boy cried out as before, and this time in earnest. But the villagers, supposing him to be at his old sport, paid no heed to his cries, and the Wolf devoured the sheep.
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18 THE SHEPHERD BOY AND THE WOLF
