be no means come at her. He therefore had recourse to an old
stratagem.
"Dear cousin," said he to her, "how do you do? I heard that you were
ill and kept at home; I could not rest, therefore, till I had come to
see you. Pray let me feel your pulse. Indeed, you do not look well at
all."
He was running on in this impudent manner, when the Hen answered him
from the roost: "Truly, dear Reynard, you are in the right. I was
seldom in more danger than I am now. Pray excuse my coming down; I am
sure I should catch my death."
The Fox, finding himself foiled by the Hen's cleverness, made off and
tried his luck elsewhere.
The Ass and His Shadow
A Man, one hot day, hired an Ass, with his Driver, to carry some
merchandise across a sandy plain. The sun's rays were overpowering,
and unable to advance farther without a temporary rest he called upon
the Driver to stop, and proceeded to sit down in the shadow of the Ass.
The Driver, however, a lusty fellow, rudely pushed him away, and sat
down on the spot himself.
"Nay, friend," said the Driver, "when you hired this Ass of me you said
nothing about the shadow. If now you want that, too, you must pay for
it."
The Ass in the Lion's Skin
An Ass, finding a Lion's skin, put it on, and ranged about the forest.
The beasts fled in terror, and he was delighted at the success of his
disguise. Meeting a Fox, he rushed upon him, and this time he tried to
imitate as well the roaring of the Lion.
"Ah," said the Fox, "if you had held your tongue I should have been
deceived like the rest; but now you bray I know who you are!"
The Wolf and the Sheep
A Wolf, sorely wounded and bitten by dogs, lay sick and maimed in his
lair. Parched with thirst, he called to a Sheep who was passing and
asked her to fetch some water from a stream flowing close by. "For,"
he said, "if you will bring me drink, sister, I will find means to
provide myself with meat."
"Yes," said the Sheep, "but if I should bring you the draught, you
would doubtless make me provide the meat also."
Jupiter's Two Wallets
When Jupiter made Man, he gave him two Wallets; one for his neighbour's
faults, the other for his own. He threw them over the Man's shoulder,
so that one hung in front and the other behind.
The Man kept the one in front for his neighbour's faults, and the one
behind for his own; so that, while the first was always under his nose,
it took some pains to see the latte
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