GGS.

A man once had a goose I'm told,
Which had laid each day an egg of gold.
Now if this treasure were well spent,
It might make any one content.
But no! this man desired more;
And though of eggs he had rich store;
He thought one day the goose he'd kill,
And then at once his pockets fill.
So chasing goosey round and round,
She soon was caught and firmly bound
He opened her from neck to tail
And then his folly did bewail.
For not a single egg was there,
And thus he lost this treasure rare.

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THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.

A fox once took it in his pate,
To go beyond a garden gate,
To see if there grew on the trees,
Some food his hunger to appease.
So in he went and there he spied
Some grapes. To reach them hard he tried.
Now they were large and luscious too,
Quite purple, and beautiful to view.
So up he jumps with many a bound,
Until exhausted to the ground,
He falls. The grapes hang o'er his head,
In clusters large, "Well! well!" he said,
"You are but green, and hard as stone,
And all my time away is thrown.
I'll leave you to your solitude,
You are not fit to make me food."

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[Illustration]

THE MOUSE AND THE WEASEL.

A very thin and hungry mouse,
Into a granary stole,
Where stood a basket full of grain,
In which was a small hole.

After much squeezing he got in,
And there he ate his fill;
But when he tried to issue out,
The hole seemed smaller still.

A weasel who stood looking on,
Cried out in sneering tone,
"You can't come out, my little dear,
Until you've smaller grown.

"You were half-starved when you crept in,
And now you are quite stout;
So cease to eat until you can,
As you got in, get out."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE MISER AND HIS TREASURE.

In a retired spot,
A miser had got
A very large treasure in store.
And it was his delight,
Each morn and each night,
To count it and add to it more.

He had made the hole deep,
And he thought none would peep,
To find out his secret retreat.
But a servant so sly,
His master did spy,
And thought that his cunning he'd beat.

So one dark winter night,
He took out his light,
And to the field hastened away;
And he laughed in his sleeve,
To think how 'twould grieve
His master to miss it next day.

And indeed the distress
Of his lord you may guess,
For words can't describe it, I'm sure.
He tore out his