ian, skilled
in drugs and able to cure all diseases. Among the crowd was a Fox, who
called out, "You a doctor! Why, how can you set up to heal others when
you cannot even cure your own lame legs and blotched and wrinkled
skin?"

Physician, heal thyself.

THE SWOLLEN FOX

A hungry Fox found in a hollow tree a quantity of bread and meat,
which some shepherds had placed there against their return. Delighted
with his find he slipped in through the narrow aperture and greedily
devoured it all. But when he tried to get out again he found himself
so swollen after his big meal that he could not squeeze through the
hole, and fell to whining and groaning over his misfortune. Another
Fox, happening to pass that way, came and asked him what the matter
was; and, on learning the state of the case, said, "Well, my friend, I
see nothing for it but for you to stay where you are till you shrink
to your former size; you'll get out then easily enough."

THE MOUSE, THE FROG, AND THE HAWK

A Mouse and a Frog struck up a friendship; they were not well mated,
for the Mouse lived entirely on land, while the Frog was equally
at home on land or in the water. In order that they might never be
separated, the Frog tied himself and the Mouse together by the leg
with a piece of thread. As long as they kept on dry land all went
fairly well; but, coming to the edge of a pool, the Frog jumped in,
taking the Mouse with him, and began swimming about and croaking with
pleasure. The unhappy Mouse, however, was soon drowned, and floated
about on the surface in the wake of the Frog. There he was spied by a
Hawk, who pounced down on him and seized him in his talons. The Frog
was unable to loose the knot which bound him to the Mouse, and thus
was carried off along with him and eaten by the Hawk.

THE BOY AND THE NETTLES

A Boy was gathering berries from a hedge when his hand was stung by a
Nettle. Smarting with the pain, he ran to tell his mother, and said
to her between his sobs, "I only touched it ever so lightly, mother."
"That's just why you got stung, my son," she said; "if you had grasped
it firmly, it wouldn't have hurt you in the least."

THE PEASANT AND THE APPLE-TREE

A Peasant had an Apple-tree growing in his garden, which bore no
fruit, but merely served to provide a shelter from the heat for the
sparrows and grasshoppers which sat and chirped in its branches.
Disappointed at its barrenness he determine