done the best he could for him, and, considering this was his only failing, he ought to be well content. The Lion, however, wouldn’t be comforted, and was so ashamed of his timidity that he wished he might die. In this state of mind, he met the Elephant and had a talk with him. He noticed that the great beast cocked up his ears all the time, as if he were listening for something, and he asked him why he did so. Just then a gnat came humming by, and the Elephant said, “Do you see that wretched little buzzing insect? I’m terribly afraid of its getting into my ear: if it once gets in, I’m dead and done for.” The Lion’s spirits rose at once when he heard this: “For,” he said to himself, “if the Elephant, huge as he is, is afraid of a gnat, I needn’t be so much ashamed of being afraid of a cock, who is ten thousand times bigger than a gnat.”
The Pig and the Sheep
A Pig found his way into a meadow where a flock of Sheep were grazing. The shepherd caught him, and was proceeding to carry him off to the butcher’s when he set up a loud squealing and struggled to get free. The Sheep rebuked him for making such a to-do, and said to him, “The shepherd catches us regularly and drags us off just like that, and we don’t make any fuss.” “No, I dare say not,” replied the Pig, “but my case and yours are altogether different: he only wants you for wool, but he wants me for bacon.”
The Gardener and His Dog
A Gardener’s Dog fell into a deep well, from which his master used to draw water for the plants in his garden with a rope and a bucket. Failing to get the Dog out by means of these, the Gardener went down into the well himself in order to fetch him up. But the Dog thought he had come to make sure of drowning him; so he bit his master as soon as he came within reach, and hurt him a good deal, with the result that he left the Dog to his fate and climbed out of the well, remarking, “It serves me quite right for trying to save so determined a suicide.”
The Rivers and the Sea
Once upon a time all the Rivers combined to protest against the action of the Sea in making their waters salt. “When we come to you,” said they to the Sea, “we are sweet and drinkable: but when once we have mingled with you, our waters become as briny and unpalatable as your own.” The Sea replied shortly, “Keep away from me and you’ll remain sweet.”
The Lion in Love
A Lion fell deeply in love with the daughter of a cottager and wanted to marry her; but her father was unwilling to give her to so fearsome a husband, and yet didn’t want to offend the Lion; so he hit upon the following expedient. He went to the Lion and said, “I think you will make a very good husband for my daughter: but I cannot consent to your union unless you let me draw your teeth and pare your nails, for my daughter is terribly afraid of them.” The Lion was so much in love that he readily agreed that this should be done. When once, however, he was thus disarmed, the Cottager was afraid of him no longer, but drove him away with his club.
The Beekeeper
A Thief found his way into an apiary when the Beekeeper was away, and stole all the honey. When the Keeper returned and found the hives empty, he was very much upset and stood staring at them for some time. Before long the bees came back from gathering honey, and, finding their hives overturned and the Keeper standing by, they made for him with their stings. At this he fell into a passion and cried, “You ungrateful scoundrels, you let the thief who stole my honey get off scot-free, and then you go and sting me who have always taken such care of you!”
The Wolf and the Horse
A Wolf on his rambles came to a field of oats, but, not being able to eat them, he was passing on his way when a Horse came along. “Look,” said the Wolf, “here’s a fine field of oats. For your sake I have left it untouched, and I shall greatly enjoy the sound of your teeth munching the ripe grain.” But the Horse replied, “If wolves could eat oats, my fine friend, you would hardly have indulged your ears at the cost of your belly.”
The Bat, the Bramble, and the Seagull
A Bat, a Bramble, and a Seagull went into partnership and determined to go on a trading voyage together. The Bat borrowed a sum of money for his venture; the Bramble laid in a stock of clothes of various kinds; and the Seagull took a quantity of lead: and so they set out. By and by a great storm came on, and their boat with all the cargo went to the bottom, but the three travellers managed to reach land. Ever since then the Seagull flies to and fro over the sea, and every now and then dives below the surface, looking for the lead he’s lost; while the Bat is so afraid of meeting his creditors that he hides away by day and only comes out at night to feed; and the Bramble catches hold of the clothes of everyone who passes by, hoping some day to recognise and recover the lost garments.
