ho injured me."

The Ass and the Charger

AN ASS congratulated a Horse on being so ungrudgingly and carefully
provided for, while he himself had scarcely enough to eat and not even
that without hard work. But when war broke out, a heavily armed soldier
mounted the Horse, and riding him to the charge, rushed into the
very midst of the enemy. The Horse was wounded and fell dead on the
battlefield. Then the Ass, seeing all these things, changed his mind,
and commiserated the Horse.

The Eagle and His Captor

AN EAGLE was once captured by a man, who immediately clipped his
wings and put him into his poultry-yard with the other birds, at which
treatment the Eagle was weighed down with grief. Later, another neighbor
purchased him and allowed his feathers to grow again. The Eagle took
flight, and pouncing upon a hare, brought it at once as an offering to
his benefactor. A Fox, seeing this, exclaimed, "Do not cultivate the
favor of this man, but of your former owner, lest he should again hunt
for you and deprive you a second time of your wings."

The Bald Man and the Fly

A FLY bit the bare head of a Bald Man who, endeavoring to destroy it,
gave himself a heavy slap. Escaping, the Fly said mockingly, "You who
have wished to revenge, even with death, the Prick of a tiny insect, see
what you have done to yourself to add insult to injury?" The Bald Man
replied, "I can easily make peace with myself, because I know there was
no intention to hurt. But you, an ill-favored and contemptible insect
who delights in sucking human blood, I wish that I could have killed you
even if I had incurred a heavier penalty."

The Olive-Tree and the Fig-Tree

THE OLIVE-TREE ridiculed the Fig-Tree because, while she was green all
the year round, the Fig-Tree changed its leaves with the seasons. A
shower of snow fell upon them, and, finding the Olive full of foliage,
it settled upon its branches and broke them down with its weight, at
once despoiling it of its beauty and killing the tree. But finding the
Fig-Tree denuded of leaves, the snow fell through to the ground, and did
not injure it at all.

The Eagle and the Kite

AN EAGLE, overwhelmed with sorrow, sat upon the branches of a tree in
company with a Kite. "Why," said the Kite, "do I see you with such a
rueful look?" "I seek," she replied, "a mate suitable for me, and am
not able to find one." "Take me," returned the Kite, "I am much stronger
than you are.