see the dead Fox. The village
Cock, with all his hens and chicks, was also there, to enjoy the sight.

The Fox then got up, and, shaking off his drowsiness, said: "I ate a
number of hens and chicks last night; hence I must have slumbered
longer than usual."

The Cock counted his hens and chicks, and found a number wanting.
"Alas!" said he, "how is it I did not know of it?"

"My dear sir," said the Fox, as he retreated to the wood, "it was last
night I had a good meal on your hens and chicks, yet you did not know
of it. A moment ago they found me lying in the field, and you knew of
it at once. _Ill news travels fast!_"

Tinsel and Lightning

A piece of Tinsel on a rock once said to a Pebble: "You see how bright
I am! I am by birth related to the lightning."

"Indeed!" said the Pebble; "then accept my humble respects."

Some time after, a flash of lightning struck the rock, and the Tinsel
lost all its brilliancy by the scorching effects of the flash.

"Where is your brilliancy now?" said the Pebble.

"Oh, it is gone to the skies," said the Tinsel, "for I have lent it to
the lightning that came down a moment ago to borrow it of me."

"Dear me!" said the Pebble; "_how many fibs doth good bragging need!_"

The Glow-worm and the Daw

A Jackdaw once ran up to a Glow-worm and was about to seize him. "Wait
a moment, good friend," said the Worm; "and you shall hear of something
to your advantage."

"Ah! what is it?" said the Daw.

"I am but one of the many Glow-worms that live in this forest. If you
wish to have them all, follow me," said the Glow-worm.

"Certainly!" said the Daw.

Then the Glow-worm led him to a place in the wood where a fire had been
kindled by some woodmen, and pointing to the sparks flying about, said:
"There you find the Glow-worms warming themselves around a fire. When
you have done with them, I will show you some more, at a distance from
this place."

The Daw darted at the sparks, and tried to swallow some of them; but
his mouth being burnt by the attempt, he ran away exclaiming, "Ah, the
Glow-worm is a dangerous little creature!"

Said the Glow-worm with pride: "_Wickedness yields to wisdom!_"

The Lion and the Gadfly

Once a Lion was sleeping in his den at the foot of a great mountain
when a Gadfly that had been sipping the blood from his mouth bit him
severely. The Lion started up with a roar, and catching the Fly in his
huge paws, cried: "Villain, you are at