ef to me," he exclaimed, "that I should perish by an arrow
feathered from my own wings."

The Sick Kite

A KITE, sick unto death, said to his mother: "O Mother! do not mourn,
but at once invoke the gods that my life may be prolonged." She replied,
"Alas! my son, which of the gods do you think will pity you? Is there
one whom you have not outraged by filching from their very altars a part
of the sacrifice offered up to them?"

We must make friends in prosperity if we would have their help in
adversity.

The Lion and the Dolphin

A LION roaming by the seashore saw a Dolphin lift up its head out of the
waves, and suggested that they contract an alliance, saying that of all
the animals they ought to be the best friends, since the one was the
king of beasts on the earth, and the other was the sovereign ruler of
all the inhabitants of the ocean. The Dolphin gladly consented to this
request. Not long afterwards the Lion had a combat with a wild bull, and
called on the Dolphin to help him. The Dolphin, though quite willing to
give him assistance, was unable to do so, as he could not by any means
reach the land. The Lion abused him as a traitor. The Dolphin replied,
"Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, which, while giving me the
sovereignty of the sea, has quite denied me the power of living upon the
land."

The Lion and the Boar

ON A SUMMER DAY, when the great heat induced a general thirst among the
beasts, a Lion and a Boar came at the same moment to a small well to
drink. They fiercely disputed which of them should drink first, and
were soon engaged in the agonies of a mortal combat. When they stopped
suddenly to catch their breath for a fiercer renewal of the fight,
they saw some Vultures waiting in the distance to feast on the one that
should fall first. They at once made up their quarrel, saying, "It
is better for us to make friends, than to become the food of Crows or
Vultures."

The One-Eyed Doe

A DOE blind in one eye was accustomed to graze as near to the edge of
the cliff as she possibly could, in the hope of securing her greater
safety. She turned her sound eye towards the land that she might get the
earliest tidings of the approach of hunter or hound, and her injured eye
towards the sea, from whence she entertained no anticipation of danger.
Some boatmen sailing by saw her, and taking a successful aim, mortally
wounded her. Yielding up her last breath, she gasped forth this