every bird, without missing one. Here is
the certificate my tutor gave me. It was not for nothing that the
birds used to say that I could pick the stars out of the sky. When you
have made up your mind to transfer the kingdom to me, I will
immediately begin to teach the beasts how to make nests."

On this the king and all his beasts howled aloud; the members of the
council hung their heads; and, too late, the Lion perceived that the
young Lion had learned nothing of what was wanted, that he was
acquainted with birds only, not knowing anything of the nature of
beasts, although he was destined to rule over them, and that he was
destitute of that which is most requisite in kings--the knowledge of
the wants of their own people and the interests of their own country.

The Pebble and the Diamond

A Diamond, which some one had lost, lay for some time on the high road.
At last it happened that a merchant picked it up. By him it was
offered to the king, who bought it, had it set in gold, and made it one
of the ornaments of the royal crown. Having heard of this, a Pebble
began to make a fuss. The brilliant fate of the Diamond fascinated it;
and, one day, seeing a Moujik passing, it besought him thus:

"Do me a kindness, fellow-countryman, and take me with you to the
capital. Why should I go on suffering here in rain and mud, while our
Diamond is, men say, in honour there? I don't understand why it has
been treated with such respect. Side by side with me here it lay so
many years; it is just such a stone as I am--my close companion. Do
take me! How can one tell? If I am seen there, I too, perhaps, may be
found worthy of being turned to account."

The Moujik took the stone into his lumbering cart, and conveyed it to
the city. Our stone tumbled into the cart, thinking that it would soon
be sitting by the side of the Diamond. But a quite different fate
befell it. It really was turned to account, but only to mend a hole in
the road.

The Pike and the Cat

A conceited Pike took it into its head to exercise the functions of a
cat. I do not know whether the Evil One had plagued it with envy, or
whether, perhaps, it had grown tired of fishy fare; but, at all events,
it thought fit to ask the Cat to take it out to the chase, with the
intention of catching a few mice in the warehouse. "But, my dear
friend," Vaska says to the Pike, "do you understand that kind of work?
Take care, gossip, that you don't incur