Awed by the splash, the Frogs watched their King in fear and trembling, till at
last, encouraged by his stillness, one more daring than the rest jumped upon the
shoulder of the monarch. Soon, many others followed his example, and made
merry on the back of their unresisting King. Speedily tiring of such a torpid
ruler, they again petitioned Jupiter, and asked him to send them something more
like a King.
This time he sent them a Stork, who tossed them about and gobbled them up
without mercy. They lost no time, therefore, in beseeching the god to give them
again their former state.
"No, no," replied he, "a King that did you no harm did not please you. Make the
best of the one you have, or you may chance to get a worse in his place."
The Porcupine and the Snakes
A Porcupine, seeking for shelter, desired some Snakes to give him admittance
into their cave. They accordingly let him in, but were afterward so annoyed by
his sharp, prickly quills that they repented of their easy compliance, and
entreated him to withdraw and leave them their hole to themselves.
"No, no," said he, "let them quit the place that don't like it; for my part, I am very
well satisfied as I am."
The Lark and Her Young Ones
A Lark, who had Young Ones in a field of grain which was almost ripe, was
afraid that the reapers would come before her young brood was fledged. Every
day, therefore, when she flew off to look for food, she charged them to take note
of what they heard in her absence, and to tell her of it when she came home.
One day, when she was gone, they heard the owner of the field say to his son
that the grain seemed ripe enough to be cut, and tell him to go early the next day
and ask their friends and neighbours to come and help reap it.
When the old Lark came home, the Little Ones quivered and chirped around her,