after a good day's sport, he always gave the Housedog a large
share of his spoil. The Hound, feeling much aggrieved at this,

reproached his companion, saying, "It is very hard to have all
this labor, while you, who do not assist in the chase, luxuriate

on the fruits of my exertions." The Housedog replied, "Do not
blame me, my friend, but find fault with the master, who has not

taught me to labor, but to depend for subsistence on the labor of
others."

Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents.
The Stag in the Ox-Stall

A STAG, roundly chased by the hounds and blinded by fear to the
danger he was running into, took shelter in a farmyard and hid

himself in a shed among the oxen. An Ox gave him this kindly
warning: "O unhappy creature! why should you thus, of your own

accord, incur destruction and trust yourself in the house of your
enemy?' The Stag replied: "Only allow me, friend, to stay where I

am, and I will undertake to find some favorable opportunity of
effecting my escape." At the approach of the evening the herdsman

came to feed his cattle, but did not see the Stag; and even the
farm-bailiff with several laborers passed through the shed and

failed to notice him. The Stag, congratulating himself on his
safety, began to express his sincere thanks to the Oxen who had

kindly helped him in the hour of need. One of them again
answered him: "We indeed wish you well, but the danger is not

over. There is one other yet to pass through the shed, who has
as it were a hundred eyes, and until he has come and gone, your

life is still in peril." At that moment the master himself
entered, and having had to complain that his oxen had not been

properly fed, he went up to their racks and cried out: "Why is
there such a scarcity of fodder? There is not half enough straw

for them to lie on. Those lazy fellows have not even swept the
cobwebs away." While he thus examined everything in turn, he

spied the tips of the antlers of the Stag peeping out of the
straw. Then summoning his laborers, he ordered that the Stag

should be seized and killed.
The Hawk, the Kite, and the Pigeons

THE PIGEONS, terrified by the appearance of a Kite, called upon
the Hawk to defend them. He at once consented. When they had

admitted him into the cote, they found that he made more havoc
and slew a larger number of them in one day than the Kite could

pounce upon in a whole year.
Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease.

The Widow and the Sheep
A CERTAIN poor widow had one solitary Sheep. At shearing time,

wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, she sheared him
herself, but used the shears so unskillfully that with the fleece

she sheared the flesh. The Sheep, writhing with pain, said, "Why
do you hurt me so, Mistress? What weight can my blood add to the

wool? If you want my flesh, there is the butcher, who will kill
me in an instant; but if you want my fleece and wool, there is

the shearer, who will shear and not hurt me."
The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.

The Wild Ass and the Lion
A WILD ASS and a Lion entered into an alliance so that they might

capture the beasts of the forest with greater ease. The Lion
agreed to assist the Wild Ass with his strength, while the Wild

Ass gave the Lion the benefit of his greater speed. When they
had taken as many beasts as their necessities required, the Lion

undertook to distribute the prey, and for this purpose divided it
into three shares. "I will take the first share," he said,

"because I am King: and the second share, as a partner with you
in the chase: and the third share (believe me) will be a source

of great evil to you, unless you willingly" target="_blank" title="ad.情愿地，乐意地">willinglyresign it to me, and
set off as fast as you can."

Might makes right.
The Eagle and the Arrow

AN EAGLE sat on a lofty rock, watching the movements of a Hare
whom he sought to make his prey. An archer, who saw the Eagle

from a place of concealment, took an accurate aim and wounded him
mortally. The Eagle gave one look at the arrow that had entered

his heart and saw in that single glance that its feathers had
been furnished by himself. "It is a double grief to me," he

exclaimed, "that I should perish by an arrow feathered from my
own wings."

The Sick Kite
A KITE, sick unto death, said to his mother: "O Mother! do not

mourn, but at once invoke the gods that my life may be
prolonged." She replied, "Alas! my son, which of the gods do you

think will pity you? Is there one whom you have not outraged by
filching from their very altars a part of the sacrifice offered

up to them?'
We must make friends in prosperity if we would have their help in

adversity.
The Lion and the Dolphin

A LION roaming by the seashore saw a Dolphin lift up its head out
of the waves, and suggested that they contract an alliance,

saying that of all the animals they ought to be the best friends,
since the one was the king of beasts on the earth, and the other

was the sovereign ruler of all the inhabitants of the ocean. The
Dolphin gladly consented to this request. Not long afterwards

the Lion had a combat with a wild bull, and called on the Dolphin
to help him. The Dolphin, though quite willing to give him

assistance, was unable to do so, as he could not by any means
reach the land. The Lion abused him as a traitor. The Dolphin

replied, "Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, which, while
giving me the sovereignty of the sea, has quite denied me the

power of living upon the land."
The Lion and the Boar

ON A SUMMER DAY, when the great heat induced a general thirst
among the beasts, a Lion and a Boar came at the same moment to a

small well to drink. They fiercely disputed which of them should
drink first, and were soon engaged in the agonies of a mortal

combat. When they stopped suddenly to catch their breath for a
fiercer renewal of the fight, they saw some Vultures waiting in

the distance to feast on the one that should fall first. They at
once made up their quarrel, saying, "It is better for us to make

friends, than to become the food of Crows or Vultures."
The One-Eyed Doe

A DOE blind in one eye was accustomed to graze as near to the
edge of the cliff as she possibly could, in the hope of securing

her greater safety. She turned her sound eye towards the land
that she might get the earliest tidings of the approach of hunter

or hound, and her injured eye towards the sea, from whence she
entertained no anticipation of danger. Some boatmen sailing by

saw her, and taking a successful aim, mortally wounded her.
Yielding up her last breath, she gasped forth this lament: "O

wretched creature that I am! to take such precaution against the
land, and after all to find this seashore, to which I had come

for safety, so much more perilous."
The Shepherd and the Sea

A SHEPHERD, keeping watch over his sheep near the shore, saw the
Sea very calm and smooth, and longed to make a voyage with a view

to commerce. He sold all his flock, invested it in a cargo of
dates, and set sail. But a very great tempest came on, and the

ship being in danger of sinking, he threw all his merchandise
overboard, and barely escaped with his life in the empty ship.

Not long afterwards when someone passed by and observed the
unruffled calm of the Sea, he interrupted him and said, "It is

again in want of dates, and therefore looks quiet."
The Ass, the Cock, and the Lion