ers

SOME TRAVELERS, journeying along the seashore, climbed to the summit of
a tall cliff, and looking over the sea, saw in the distance what they
thought was a large ship. They waited in the hope of seeing it enter
the harbor, but as the object on which they looked was driven nearer to
shore by the wind, they found that it could at the most be a small boat,
and not a ship. When however it reached the beach, they discovered
that it was only a large faggot of sticks, and one of them said to
his companions, "We have waited for no purpose, for after all there is
nothing to see but a load of wood."

Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities.

The Brazier and His Dog

A BRAZIER had a little Dog, which was a great favorite with his master,
and his constant companion. While he hammered away at his metals the Dog
slept; but when, on the other hand, he went to dinner and began to eat,
the Dog woke up and wagged his tail, as if he would ask for a share of
his meal. His master one day, pretending to be angry and shaking his
stick at him, said, "You wretched little sluggard! what shall I do to
you? While I am hammering on the anvil, you sleep on the mat; and when
I begin to eat after my toil, you wake up and wag your tail for food. Do
you not know that labor is the source of every blessing, and that none
but those who work are entitled to eat?"

The Ass and His Shadow

A TRAVELER hired an Ass to convey him to a distant place. The day being
intensely hot, and the sun shining in its strength, the Traveler stopped
to rest, and sought shelter from the heat under the Shadow of the Ass.
As this afforded only protection for one, and as the Traveler and the
owner of the Ass both claimed it, a violent dispute arose between them
as to which of them had the right to the Shadow. The owner maintained
that he had let the Ass only, and not his Shadow. The Traveler asserted
that he had, with the hire of the Ass, hired his Shadow also. The
quarrel proceeded from words to blows, and while the men fought, the Ass
galloped off.

In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance.

The Ass and His Masters

AN ASS, belonging to an herb-seller who gave him too little food and
too much work made a petition to Jupiter to be released from his present
service and provided with another master. Jupiter, after warning him
that he would repent his request, caused him to be sold to a tile-maker.
Shortly afterwards, f