come at her. He therefore had recourse to an old stratagem.
"Dear cousin," said he to her, "how do you do? I heard that you were ill and kept
at home; I could not rest, therefore, till I had come to see you. Pray let me feel
your pulse. Indeed, you do not look well at all."
He was running on in this impudent manner, when the Hen answered him from
the roost: "Truly, dear Reynard, you are in the right. I was seldom in more
danger than I am now. Pray excuse my coming down; I am sure I should catch
my death."
The Fox, finding himself foiled by the Hen's cleverness, made off and tried his
luck elsewhere.
The Ass and His Shadow
A Man, one hot day, hired an Ass, with his Driver, to carry some merchandise
across a sandy plain. The sun's rays were overpowering, and unable to advance
farther without a temporary rest he called upon the Driver to stop, and proceeded
to sit down in the shadow of the Ass.
The Driver, however, a lusty fellow, rudely pushed him away, and sat down on
the spot himself.
"Nay, friend," said the Driver, "when you hired this Ass of me you said nothing
about the shadow. If now you want that, too, you must pay for it."
The Ass in the Lion's Skin
An Ass, finding a Lion's skin, put it on, and ranged about the forest. The beasts
fled in terror, and he was delighted at the success of his disguise. Meeting a Fox,
he rushed upon him, and this time he tried to imitate as well the roaring of the
Lion.
"Ah," said the Fox, "if you had held your tongue I should have been deceived
like the rest; but now you bray I know who you are!"