A Kite, that had kept sailing around a dovecote for many days to no purpose,
was at last forced by hunger to have recourse to stratagem. Approaching the
Pigeons in his gentlest manner, he described to them in an eloquent speech how
much better their state would be if they had a king with some firmness about
him, and how well such a ruler would shield them from the attacks of the Hawk
and other enemies.
The Pigeons, deluded by this show of reason, admitted him to the dovecote as
their king. They found, however, that he thought it part of his kingly prerogative
to eat one of their number every day, and they soon repented of their credulity in
having let him in.
The Ant and the Fly
An Ant and a Fly one day disputed as to their respective merits. "Vile creeping
insect!" said the Fly to the Ant, "can you for a moment compare yourself with
me? I soar on the wing like a bird. I enter the palaces of kings, and alight on the
heads of princes, nay, of emperors, and only quit them to adorn the yet more
attractive brow of beauty. Besides, I visit the altars of the gods. Not a sacrifice is
offered but it is first tasted by me. Every feast, too, is open to me. I eat and drink
of the best, instead of living for days on two or three grains of corn as you do."
"All that is very fine," replied the Ant; "but listen to me. You boast of your
feasting, but you know that your diet is not always so choice, and you are
sometimes forced to eat what nothing would induce me to touch. As for alighting
on the heads of kings and emperors, you know very well that whether you pitch
on the head of an emperor or of an ass (and it is as often on the one as the other),
you are shaken off from both with impatience. And, then, the 'altars of the gods,'
indeed! There and everywhere else you are looked upon as nothing but a
nuisance. In the winter, too, while I feed at my ease on the fruit of my toil, what
more common than to see your friends dying with cold, hunger, and fatigue? I
lose my time now in talking to you. Chattering will fill neither my bin nor my
cupboard."
The Frog Who Wished to Be as Big as an Ox