added the dome to his own collection.
The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox
Two Thieves having stolen a Piano and being unable to divide it fairly
without a remainder went to law about it and continued the contest as
long as either one could steal a dollar to bribe the judge. When they
could give no more an Honest Man came along and by a single small payment
obtained a judgment and took the Piano home, where his daughter used it
to develop her biceps muscles, becoming a famous pugiliste.
The Ass and the Lion's Skin
A Member of the State Militia stood at a street corner, scowling
stormily, and the people passing that way went a long way around him,
thinking of the horrors of war. But presently, in order to terrify them
still more, he strode toward them, when, his sword entangling his legs,
he fell upon the field of glory, and the people passed over him singing
their sweetest songs.
The Ass and the Grasshoppers
A Statesman heard some Labourers singing at their work, and wishing to be
happy too, asked them what made them so.
"Honesty," replied the Labourers.
So the Statesman resolved that he too would be honest, and the result was
that he died of want.
The Wolf and the Lion
An Indian who had been driven out of a fertile valley by a White Settler,
said:
"Now that you have robbed me of my land, there is nothing for me to do
but issue invitations to a war-dance."
"I don't so much mind your dancing," said the White Settler, putting a
fresh cartridge into his rifle, "but if you attempt to make me dance you
will become a good Indian lamented by all who didn't know you. How did
_you_ get this land, anyhow?"
The Indian's claim was compromised for a plug hat and a tin horn.
The Hare and the Tortoise
Of two Writers one was brilliant but indolent; the other though dull,
industrious. They set out for the goal of fame with equal opportunities.
Before they died the brilliant one was detected in seventy languages as
the author of but two or three books of fiction and poetry, while the
other was honoured in the Bureau of Statistics of his native land as the
compiler of sixteen volumes of tabulated information relating to the
domestic hog.
The Milkmaid and Her Bucket
A Senator fell to musing as follows: "With the money which I shall get
for my vote in favour of the bill to subsidise cat-ranches, I can buy a
kit of burglar's tools and open a bank. The profit of that
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