ad; "I should think that
any animal that is afraid of your voice and doesn't mind mine must have
an uncommon kind of ear."

The Snake and the Swallow

A Swallow who had built her nest in a court of justice reared a fine
family of young birds. One day a Snake came out of a chink in the wall
and was about to eat them. The Just Judge at once issued an injunction,
and making an order for their removal to his own house, ate them himself.

The Wolves and the Dogs

"Why should there be strife between us?" said the Wolves to the Sheep.
"It is all owing to those quarrelsome dogs. Dismiss them, and we shall
have peace."

"You seem to think," replied the Sheep, "that it is an easy thing to
dismiss dogs. Have you always found it so?"

The Hen and the Vipers

A Hen who had patiently hatched out a brood of vipers, was accosted by a
Swallow, who said: "What a fool you are to give life to creatures who
will reward you by destroying you."

"I am a little bit on the destroy myself," said the Hen, tranquilly
swallowing one of the little reptiles; "and it is not an act of folly to
provide oneself with the delicacies of the season."

A Seasonable Joke

A Spendthrift, seeing a single swallow, pawned his cloak, thinking that
Summer was at hand. It was.

The Lion and the Thorn

A Lion roaming through the forest, got a thorn in his foot, and, meeting
a Shepherd, asked him to remove it. The Shepherd did so, and the Lion,
having just surfeited himself on another shepherd, went away without
harming him. Some time afterward the Shepherd was condemned on a false
accusation to be cast to the lions in the amphitheatre. When they were
about to devour him, one of them said:

"This is the man who removed the thorn from my foot."

Hearing this, the others honourably abstained, and the claimant ate the
Shepherd all himself.

The Fawn and the Buck

A Fawn said to its father: "You are larger, stronger, and more active
than a dog, and you have sharp horns. Why do you run away when you hear
one barking?"

"Because, my child," replied the Buck, "my temper is so uncertain that if
I permit one of those noisy creatures to come into my presence I am
likely to forget myself and do him an injury."

The Kite, the Pigeons, and the Hawk

Some Pigeons exposed to the attacks of a Kite asked a Hawk to defend
them. He consented, and being admitted into the cote waited for the
Kite, whom he fell up