had well paid him off. "I will not apologize for the dinner," said the Stork, "nor
for the manner of serving it, for one ill turn deserves another."
The Gnat and the Bull
A sturdy Bull was once driven by the heat of the weather to wade up to his knees
in a cool and swift-running stream. He had not been there long when a Gnat that
had been disporting itself in the air pitched upon one of his horns.
"My dear fellow," said the Gnat, with as great a buzz as he could manage, "pray
excuse the liberty I take. If I am too heavy only say so and I will go at once and
rest upon the poplar which grows hard by the edge of the stream.
"Stay or go, it makes no matter to me," replied the Bull. "Had it not been for
your buzz I should not even have known you were there."
The Deer and the Lion
One warm day a Deer went down to a brook to get a drink. The stream was
smooth and clear, and he could see himself in the water. He looked at his horns
and was very proud of them, for they were large and long and had many
branches, but when he saw his feet he was ashamed to own them, they were so
slim and small.
While he stood knee-deep in the water, and was thinking only of his fine horns, a
Lion saw him and came leaping out from the tall grass to get him. The Deer
would have been caught at once if he had not jumped quickly out of the brook.
He ran as fast as he could, and his feet were so light and swift that he soon left
the Lion far behind. But by and by he had to pass through some woods, and, as
he was running, his horns were caught in some vines that grew among the trees.
Before he could get loose the Lion was upon him.
"Ah me!" cried the Deer, "the things which pleased me most will now cause my
death; while the things which I thought so mean and poor would have carried me
safe out of danger."