e!"

THE DOGS AND THE FOX

Some Dogs once found a lion's skin, and were worrying it with their
teeth. Just then a Fox came by, and said, "You think yourselves very
brave, no doubt; but if that were a live lion you'd find his claws a
good deal sharper than your teeth."

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE HAWK

A Nightingale was sitting on a bough of an oak and singing, as her
custom was. A hungry Hawk presently spied her, and darting to the spot
seized her in his talons. He was just about to tear her in pieces when
she begged him to spare her life: "I'm not big enough," she pleaded,
"to make you a good meal: you ought to seek your prey among the bigger
birds." The Hawk eyed her with some contempt. "You must think me very
simple," said he, "if you suppose I am going to give up a certain
prize on the chance of a better of which I see at present no signs."

THE ROSE AND THE AMARANTH

A Rose and an Amaranth blossomed side by side in a garden, and the
Amaranth said to her neighbour, "How I envy you your beauty and your
sweet scent! No wonder you are such a universal favourite." But the
Rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice, "Ah, my dear
friend, I bloom but for a time: my petals soon wither and fall, and
then I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut; for
they are everlasting."

THE MAN, THE HORSE, THE OX, AND THE DOG

One winter's day, during a severe storm, a Horse, an Ox, and a Dog
came and begged for shelter in the house of a Man. He readily admitted
them, and, as they were cold and wet, he lit a fire for their comfort:
and he put oats before the Horse, and hay before the Ox, while he fed
the Dog with the remains of his own dinner. When the storm abated, and
they were about to depart, they determined to show their gratitude in
the following way. They divided the life of Man among them, and each
endowed one part of it with the qualities which were peculiarly his
own. The Horse took youth, and hence young men are high-mettled and
impatient of restraint; the Ox took middle age, and accordingly men in
middle life are steady and hard-working; while the Dog took old age,
which is the reason why old men are so often peevish and ill-tempered,
and, like dogs, attached chiefly to those who look to their comfort,
while they are disposed to snap at those who are unfamiliar or
distasteful to them.

THE WOLVES, THE SHEEP, AND THE RAM

The Wolves sent a deputation to th