midst of it, the Crows noticed a Monkey sliding
along, drenched and draggle-tailed, looking like a drowned Rat. The
Crows set up a chorus of caws, and called out--

"O Monkey, what a fool you must be! Look at us, dry and comfortable, in
our nests of rags and twigs. If we, with only our little beaks to help
us, can make comfortable nests, why can't you, with two hands and two
feet and a tail?"

[Illustration]

You might have thought the Monkey would take this advice to heart. But
not a bit of it. Monkeys are naturally a lazy tribe, and they are full
of envy, hatred, and malice. What they like best is destroying whatever
they can lay their hands on; and when I look upon some of the nations of
this globe, I cannot help thinking that they really must be descended
from Monkeys. So this Monkey snapt and snarled, and said to the Crows--

"Just wait till morning, and then we'll see what a Monkey can do."

The simple birds were delighted to hear this, and looked forward to
seeing the Monkey do something wonderfully clever, with his tail and his
two hands and two feet.

Morning came, and the rain was over. The Monkey climbed up into the
tree, and in his rage and envy he tore all the Crows' nests to pieces.

Then the Crows were sorry they spoke, and determined
for the future to mind their own business,
and let fools alone. For, as the wise man
said, "To give good advice to a fool
is like pouring oil upon
the fire."

[Illustration]

The Swan and the Paddy-Bird

A WILD Swan was flying once to his home, when he paused to rest on a
tree. This was a kind of tree you have most likely never seen. It was
very tall, and had no branches upon it until you came to the top, but at
the top was a large clump of green leaves, and bunches of cocoa-nuts
hanging down.

It so happened that on this tree was the nest of a Paddy-bird. A
Paddy-bird is a bird something like a heron, which feeds on fish and
frogs. At the moment when the Swan perched upon the tree, this
Paddy-bird was sitting demurely on the edge of a pond that was below the
tree, watching the water for a rise. She had no fishing-rod, but when
she saw a little fish or a frog swim past, out went her beak like a
flash, and the fish was pierced. Then she ate the fish, or carried it
off to her little ones in the nest.

When the Paddy-bird chanced to look round, she saw the Swan sitting upon
her tree. She was f