se entered to take
something out of a cupboard, on which the two Rats, more frightened than
before, ran away and hid themselves. At last the Country Rat, almost
famished, thus addressed his friend: "Although you have prepared for me
so dainty a feast, I must leave you to enjoy it by yourself. It is
surrounded by too many dangers to please me. I prefer my bare
plough-lands and roots from the hedge row, so that I only can live in
safety and without fear."

_#Peace is more desirable than wealth#_

[Illustration]

[Illustration: FABLES]

THE FOX AND THE GOAT

A Fox one day tried to drink at a well when he caught his feet on a
stone and fell into the water. It was not so deep as to drown him, yet
the poor Fox could not get out. Soon a Goat came that way. He, too,
thought he would drink, but then he saw the Fox in the well, so he said,
"Is the water good?" "Oh, yes," said the Fox, "it is very good and nice,
and there is a lot of it." In sprang the Goat, and at once the Fox
sprang on to his back, and thence out of the well. "Ah, my friend!" said
he, as he stood safe on the brink, "if your brains had been as large as
your beard, you would have seen where you meant to jump to!" and then
the sly Fox ran off and left the poor Goat in the well. _Look before you
leap._

THE TWO FROGS

Two Frogs were neighbors. The one inhabited a deep pond, far removed
from public view; the other lived in a gully containing little water,
and traversed by a country road. He that lived in the pond warned his
friend, and entreated him to change his residence and come and live with
him, saying that he could enjoy greater safety from danger and more
abundant food. The other refused, saying that he felt it so very hard
to remove from a place to which he had become accustomed. A few days
afterward a heavy wagon passed through the gully, and crushed him to
death under its wheels. _A wilful man will have his way to his own
hurt._

THE DOG IN THE MANGER

A cross Dog lay in a manger full of hay; and when the Ox came near to
eat his own food, the rude and ill-bred cur at once began to snarl and
bite at him. "What a selfish Beast thou art!" said the Ox; "thou canst
not eat the hay thyself, nor wilt thou look on while others feed." _Do
not be selfish._

THE STAG AT THE POOL

One hot day, a Stag, who came down from the hills to quench his thirst
at a pool of clear water, saw his form in the strea