ld also to their mother. "Do
not fear, children," said she; "kindred and relations are not always
very forward in helping one another; but keep your ears open, and let
me know what you hear to-morrow."

The owner came the next day, and, finding his relations as backward as
his neighbours, said to his son: "Now listen to me. Get two good
sickles ready for to-morrow morning, for it seems we must reap the
grain by ourselves." The Young Ones told this to their mother.

"Then, my dears," said she, "it is time for us to go; for when a man
undertakes to do his work himself, it is not so likely that he will be
disappointed." She took them away at once, and the grain was reaped
the next day by the old man and his son.

The Fox and the Stork

A Fox one day invited a Stork to dine with him, and, wishing to be
amused at his guest's expense, put the soup which he had for dinner in
a large flat dish, so that, while he himself could lap it up quite
well, the Stork could only dip in the tip of his long bill.

Some time after, the Stork, bearing his treatment in mind, invited the
Fox to take dinner with him. He, in his turn, put some minced meat in
a long and narrow-necked vessel, into which he could easily put his
bill, while Master Fox was forced to be content with licking what ran
down the sides of the vessel.

The Fox then remembered his old trick, and could not but admit that the
Stork had well paid him off. "I will not apologize for the dinner,"
said the Stork, "nor for the manner of serving it, for one ill turn
deserves another."

The Gnat and the Bull

A sturdy Bull was once driven by the heat of the weather to wade up to
his knees in a cool and swift-running stream. He had not been there
long when a Gnat that had been disporting itself in the air pitched
upon one of his horns.

"My dear fellow," said the Gnat, with as great a buzz as he could
manage, "pray excuse the liberty I take. If I am too heavy only say so
and I will go at once and rest upon the poplar which grows hard by the
edge of the stream.

"Stay or go, it makes no matter to me," replied the Bull. "Had it not
been for your buzz I should not even have known you were there."

The Deer and the Lion

One warm day a Deer went down to a brook to get a drink. The stream
was smooth and clear, and he could see himself in the water. He looked
at his horns and was very proud of them, for they were large and long
and had many branches, but