Mouse showed his beans and meal, his dates, too, his cheese and fruit and honey. And as the Field Mouse ate, drank, and was merry, he thought how rich his friend was, and how poor he was.

But as they ate, a man all at once opened the door, and the Mice were in such fear that they ran into a crack.

Then, when they would eat some nice figs, in came a maid to get a pot of honey, or a bit of cheese; and when they saw her they hid in a hole.

Then the Field Mouse would eat no more, but said to the Town Mouse: "Do as you like, my good friend; eat all you want, and have your fill of good things, but always in fear of your life. As for me, poor Mouse, who have only corn and wheat, I will live on at home and in no fear of any one."

THE CAT, THE APE, AND THE NUTS

A Cat and an Ape sat one day by the fire, in which were some nuts roasting in the coals. The nuts had begun to crack with the heat, and the Ape said to the Cat: "It is clear that your paws were made to pull out those nuts. Put in a paw, and draw them out. Your paws are just like hands."

The Cat much enjoyed this speech, and so put out her paw for the nuts; but she at once drew back with a cry, for she had burnt her paw with the hot

coals. But she tried again, and this time pulled out one nut; then she pulled out two, then three, but each time burnt her paw.

When she could pull out no more, she looked around, and found that the Ape had used the time to crack the nuts and eat them.

THE WOLF AND THE LAMB

One hot day a Wolf was lapping at a clear brook that ran down the side of a hill. Now, not far down the stream, a stray Lamb was playing in the

water.

So

The Wolf made up his mind to eat the Lamb, but he did not wish to do it without a good excuse. he ran to the Lamb, calling in a loud voice, "Fool, get out of the brook! How dare you muddle the water that I wish to drink!"

"Oh," said the Lamb, in a mild tone, "I do not see how that can be. You stood above me to drink, and the water runs from you to me, not from me to you."

"Be that as it may," replied the Wolf, still more fiercely, "it was but a year ago that you called me many ill names:'

"Oh, sir," said the Lamb, in a great fright, "a year ago I was not born."

66

"Well," said the Wolf, "if it was not you, it was

your father, and that is all the same; but it is no use to try to argue me out of my supper." And without one word more, he fell upon the poor, helpless Lamb, and tore her to bits.

THE FOX AND THE CROW

A Crow had snatched a piece of cheese out of a cottage window, and flew up into a high tree with it, that she might eat it at her ease. A Fox having spied her, came and sat underneath, and began to pay the Crow compliments on her beauty. "Why," said he, "I never saw it before, but your feathers are of a more delicate white than any that I ever saw in my life! Ah, what a fine shape and graceful neck is there! And I have no doubt but you have a tolerable voice. If it is but as fine as your complexion, I do not know a bird that can match you."

The Crow, tickled with this very civil language, nestled and wriggled about, and hardly knew where she was. But thinking the Fox a little doubtful as to the quality of her voice, and having a mind to set him right in the matter, she began to sing, and in doing so dropped the cheese, which the Fox seized at once, and then told her to remember that whatever he had said of her beauty, he had said nothing, as yet, of her brains.

JUPITER'S TWO WALLETS

When Jupiter made man, he gave him two wallets, one for his neighbor's faults, and the other for his own. He threw them over man's shoulders so that one hung in front, and the other, behind.

The man kept the one in front for his neighbor's faults, and the one behind for his own, so that, while the first was always before him, it took some pains to see the latter. The custom, which began thus early, is not quite unknown at the present day.

HERCULES AND PALLAS

Once when Hercules was journeying along a narrow roadway, he came across a strange-looking animal that reared its head and threatened him Hercules, not at all frightened, gave him a few lusty blows with his club, and started to move on. To his surprise and astonishment, the animal was now three times as large as before, and of a still more threatening aspect. He therefore redoubled his blows, and laid about him fast and furiously; but the harder and quicker the strokes of the club, the bigger and more frightful grew the monster, who now completely filled up the road. Pallas then appeared upon the scene. "Stop, Hercules," said she. "Cease your blows. The monster's name

is STRIFE. Let it alone, and it will soon become as little as it was at first."

THE OLD MAN, HIS SON, AND THE ASS

"You

An old man and his little boy were once driving an ass before them to the next market town, where it was to be sold. "Have you no more wit," said a passer-by, than for you and your son to trudge on foot and let the ass go light?" So the man put his boy on the ass, and they went on again. lazy young rascal!" said the next person they met; "are you not ashamed to ride and let your poor old father go on foot?" The man lifted the boy off and got up himself. Two women passed soon after, and one said to the other, "Look at that selfish old fellow riding on, while his little son follows after on foot!" The old man thereupon took the boy up behind him. The next traveler they met asked the old man whether or not the ass was his own. Being answered that it was, the man replied that no one would think so, from the way he used it. "You are better able to carry it," said he, "than he is to carry both of you." So the old man tied the ass's legs to a long pole, and he and his son shouldered the pole and staggered along under the weight. In that way they entered the town, and their appearance caused so much laughter that the old man, vexed at the