THE WOLF AND THE CRANE

A Wolf once had a bone stuck in his throat.

He told a Crane he would pay her a large sum if she would take the bone out for him.

The Crane put her long bill down the Wolf's throat and drew the bone carefully out.

Then she asked for her pay.

The Wolf grinned and ground his teeth. "Have you not had pay enough?" he said. "You have had your head in a Wolf's mouth and have taken it safely out again. What more could a Crane wish?"

-Aesop

BOYS AND GIRLS COME OUT TO PLAY

Boys and girls come out to play,
The moon does shine as bright as day,
Leave your supper and leave your sleep,
And meet your playfellows in the street;
Come with a whoop and come with a call,
And come with a good will, or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny roll will serve us all.
You find milk and I'll find flour,

And we'll have a pudding in half an hour.

THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER One beautiful winter afternoon some Ants were busily working.

They were drying grain which they had gathered in the summertime.

They were having a jolly time together for Ants like to work.

Soon a poor Grasshopper hopped by. The Grasshopper was so hungry he was almost dead.

He begged the busy Ants for a little of their food.

He said, "Please give a poor hungry Grasshopper some of your dry grain. I will surely pay it all back to you before the summer comes."

But the busy Ants said to him, "Why didn't you gather food last summer? Didn't you know that you could not find food in winter? Didn't you know that you would starve to death?"

"I did not have time to gather food," said the foolish Grasshopper. "I was busy singing all the summer long."

Then how the busy little Ants laughed! "Well, well!" they said. "If you were so unwise as to sing all summer, you will have to dance supperless to bed in winter."

-Aesop

We must toil in summer,

if we would eat in winter.

THE DOVE AND THE ANT

An Ant walking by the river one day, said to himself: "How nice and cool this water looks! I must drink some of it."

While he was drinking, his foot slipped and he fell in.

"Oh! somebody please help me or I shall drown!" he cried.

A Dove sitting in a tree near the river heard the little Ant cry for help, so she threw a leaf down to him.

"Climb up on that leaf," she said, “and you will float ashore.”

The Ant climbed up on the leaf. The wind blew it to the shore and he stepped upon dry land again.

"Good-bye, kind Dove," said the Ant, as he ran home. "You have saved my life. I wish I could do something for you."