the Fox, "It is not thou who revilest me;
but this mischance which has befallen me."

The Owl and the Birds

AN OWL, in her wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn first
began to sprout, to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it
to grow. She said acorns would produce mistletoe, from which an
irremediable poison, the bird-lime, would be extracted and by which they
would be captured. The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the
flax, which men had sown, as it was a plant which boded no good to them.
And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that this
man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers which would
fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves. The Birds gave no
credence to these warning words, but considered the Owl to be beside
herself and said that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words
were true, they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the
wisest of birds. Hence it is that when she appears they look to her
as knowing all things, while she no longer gives them advice, but in
solitude laments their past folly.

The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner

A TRUMPETER, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy.
He cried out to his captors, "Pray spare me, and do not take my life
without cause or without inquiry. I have not slain a single man of your
troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet."
"That is the very reason for which you should be put to death," they
said; "for, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the
others to battle."

The Ass in the Lion's Skin

AN ASS, having put on the Lion's skin, roamed about in the forest and
amused himself by frightening all the foolish animals he met in his
wanderings. At last coming upon 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 myself, if I had not heard your
bray."

The Sparrow and the Hare

A HARE pounced upon by an eagle sobbed very much and uttered cries like
a child. A Sparrow upbraided her and said, "Where now is thy remarkable
swiftness of foot? Why were your feet so slow?" While the Sparrow was
thus speaking, a hawk suddenly seized him and killed him. The Hare was
comforted in her death, and expiring said, "Ah! you who so lately, when
you supposed yourself safe, exulted over my calamity, have now re