d, with all a
mother's tenderness, a flat-nosed, hairless, ill-featured young Monkey
as a candidate for the promised reward. A general laugh saluted her on
the presentation of her son. She resolutely said, "I know not whether
Jupiter will allot the prize to my son, but this I do know, that he is
at least in the eyes of me his mother, the dearest, handsomest, and most
beautiful of all."

The Widow and Her Little Maidens

A WIDOW who was fond of cleaning had two little maidens to wait on her.
She was in the habit of waking them early in the morning, at cockcrow.
The maidens, aggravated by such excessive labor, resolved to kill the
cock who roused their mistress so early. When they had done this, they
found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for
their mistress, no longer hearing the hour from the cock, woke them up
to their work in the middle of the night.

The Shepherd's Boy and the Wolf

A SHEPHERD-BOY, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, brought out
the villagers three or four times by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" and when
his neighbors came to help him, laughed at them for their pains. The
Wolf, however, did truly come at last. The Shepherd-boy, now really
alarmed, shouted in an agony of terror: "Pray, do come and help me; the
Wolf is killing the sheep;" but no one paid any heed to his cries,
nor rendered any assistance. The Wolf, having no cause of fear, at his
leisure lacerated or destroyed the whole flock.

There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.

The Cat and the Birds

A CAT, hearing that the Birds in a certain aviary were ailing dressed
himself up as a physician, and, taking his cane and a bag of instruments
becoming his profession, went to call on them. He knocked at the door
and inquired of the inmates how they all did, saying that if they
were ill, he would be happy to prescribe for them and cure them. They
replied, "We are all very well, and shall continue so, if you will only
be good enough to go away, and leave us as we are."

The Kid and the Wolf

A KID standing on the roof of a house, out of harm's way, saw a Wolf
passing by and immediately began to taunt and revile him. The Wolf,
looking up, said, "Sirrah! I hear thee: yet it is not thou who mockest
me, but the roof on which thou art standing."

Time and place often give the advantage to the weak over the strong.

The Ox and the Frog

AN OX drinking at a pool