its business and its trouble, he was forced at last to acquiesce in the comfortless
season of winter, where his complaint began, convinced that in this world every
situation has its inconvenience.
The Boasting Traveller
A Man was one day entertaining a lot of fellows in an ale-house with an account
of the wonders he had done when abroad on his travels. "I was once at Rhodes,"
said he, "and the people of Rhodes, you know, are famous for jumping. Well, I
took a jump there that no other man could come within a yard of. That's a fact,
and if we were there I could bring you ten men who would prove it."
"What need is there to go to Rhodes for witnesses?" asked one of his hearers;
"just imagine that you are there now, and show us your leap!"
The Lion and the Mouse
A Lion, tired with the chase, lay sleeping at full length under a shady
tree. Some Mice, scrambling over him while he slept, awoke him.
Laying his paw upon one of them, he was about to crush him, but the
Mouse implored his mercy in such moving terms that he let him go.
Now it happened that sometime afterward the Lion was caught in a net laid by
some hunters, and, unable to free himself, made the forest resound with his
roars. The Mouse, recognizing the voice of his preserver, ran to the spot, and
with his little sharp teeth gnawed the ropes asunder and set the Lion free.
The Swallow and Other Birds
A Swallow, observing a Husbandman employed in sowing hemp, called the little
Birds together and informed them of what the farmer was about. He told them
that hemp was the material from which the nets, so fatal to the feathered race,
were composed; and advised them to join unanimously in picking it up in order
to prevent the consequences.