When the case came into court, of course the Judge gave decision in
favour of the Crow, though there was no evidence on his side except his
own word: and who but a fool would trust the word of a Carrion Crow?
When the court rose, the Crow flew to the house of the Judge, and asked
for the bones of the Judge's father. So the Judge tied up his father's
bones in a bag, and hung the bag round the Crow's neck. Away flew the
Crow, but he didn't fly far; for as the Judge watched him, the Crow
hovered over a filthy drain; and untying the bag, began dropping the
bones one by one into the mud.

"Hi, you brute!" shouted the Judge, "what are you doing!"

"Oh, you pumpkin!" said the Crow, "did you verily think that I should
take the trouble to carry your father's rotten old bones to Jerusalem?
No, no; I only wanted to see what rogues the race of Judges can be.
Caw!" Flop! went the last bone into the mud, and away flew the Crow, and
never came back there any more.

[Illustration]

So the Judge had to pick his father's bones out of
the gutter. And the next thing he had to do was to
reverse his own decision, and give the Swan his
young ones again; because, you see, a great many
people had heard what the Crow said to the Judge,
and knew (if they didn't know it before) that the
Judge was a rogue. So the Swan got his young ones
back, and as for the Judge, he became the
laughing-stock of the whole city, and he
was obliged to go and try his
tricks elsewhere.

[Illustration]

Pride shall have a Fall

THERE was once a great drought in the land. For weeks and months not a
drop of rain fell; and the sun beat down, and dried up the whole
country, so that there was no water to be found. Now there was a certain
pond in that country; and as day after day the sun blazed, the water
sank lower and lower, until it was hardly an inch deep. Numbers of Frogs
used to live in this pond; but as the water dried the Frogs died, so
that the dry mud on the banks of the pond was covered all over with dead
bodies of Frogs.

There came a Jackal out of the forest. He was glad to see this pool,
because the pool where he used to drink had been quite dried up. So he
made a little platform of mud, and stuck up four posts at the four
corners; and then he gathered bundles of dry grass, and put them upon
the top of the four posts for a thatch. Th