The Talking Beasts Part 5

A Farmer placed nets on his newly sown plough lands, and caught a quant.i.ty of Cranes, which came to pick up his seed. With them he trapped a Stork also.

The Stork, having his leg fractured by the net, earnestly besought the Farmer to spare his life. "Pray, save me, master," he said, "and let me go free this once. My broken limb should excite your pity.

Besides, I am no Crane. I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character; and see how I love and slave for my father and mother. Look, too, at my feathers, they are not the least like to those of a Crane."

The Farmer laughed aloud, and said: "It may all be as you say, I only know this, I have taken you with those robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company."

The Hare and the Tortoise

The Hare, one day, laughing at the Tortoise for his slowness and general unwieldiness, was challenged by the latter to run a race. The Hare, looking on the whole affair as a great joke, consented, and the Fox was selected to act as umpire and hold the stakes.

The rivals started, and the Hare, of course, soon left the Tortoise far behind. Having come midway to the goal, she began to play about, nibble the young herbage, and amuse herself in many ways. The day being warm, she even thought she would take a little nap in a shady spot, as, if the Tortoise should pa.s.s her while she slept, she could easily overtake him again before he reached the end.

The Tortoise meanwhile plodded on, unwavering and unresting, straight toward the goal.

The Hare, having overslept herself, started up from her nap, and was surprised to find that the Tortoise was nowhere in sight. Off she went at full speed, but on reaching the winning-post found that the Tortoise was already there, waiting for her arrival!

The Old Woman and the Doctor

An old Woman who had bad eyes called in a clever Doctor, who agreed for a certain sum to cure them. He was a very clever physician, but he was also a very great rogue; and when he called each day and bound up the Old Woman's eyes he took advantage of her blindness to carry away with him some article of her furniture. This went on until he p.r.o.nounced his patient cured and her room was nearly bare.

He claimed his reward, but the Old Woman protested that, so far from being cured, her sight was worse than ever.

"We will soon see about that, my good dame," said he; and she was shortly after summoned to appear in court.

"May it please Your Honour," said she to the Judge, "before I called in this Doctor I could see a score of things in my room that now, when he says I am cured, I cannot see at all."

This opened the eyes of the court to the knavery of the Doctor, who was forced to give the Old Woman her property back again, and was not allowed to claim a penny of his fee.

The Boy and the Wolf

A mischievous Lad, who was set to mind some Sheep, often used, in jest, to cry "Wolf! Wolf!" and when the people at work in the neighbouring fields came running to the spot he would laugh at them for their pains.

One day the beast came in reality, and the Boy, this time, called "Wolf! Wolf!" in earnest; but the men, having been so often deceived, disregarded his cries, and he and his Sheep were left at the mercy of the Wolf.

The Blackamoor

A certain Man who had bought a Blackamoor said he was convinced that it was all nonsense about black being the natural colour of his skin. "He has been dirty in his habits," said he, "and neglected by his former masters. Bring me some hot water, soap, and scrubbing-brushes, and a little sand, and we shall soon see what his colour is."

So he scrubbed, and his servants scrubbed till they were all tired.

They made no difference in the colour of the Blackamoor; but the end of it all was that the poor fellow caught cold and died.

The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

A Wolf, wrapping himself in the skin of a Sheep, by that means got admission into a sheepfold, where he devoured several of the young Lambs. The Shepherd, however, soon found him out and hung him up to a tree, still in his a.s.sumed disguise.

Some other Shepherds, pa.s.sing that way, thought it was a sheep hanging and cried to their friend: "What, brother! is that the way you serve Sheep in this part of the country?"

"No, friends," cried he, giving at the same time the carca.s.s a swing around, so that they might see what it was; "but it is the way to serve Wolves, even though they be dressed in Sheep's clothing."

The Two Travellers

As two men were travelling through a wood, one of them took up an axe which he saw lying upon the ground. "Look here," said he to his companion, "I have found an axe."

"Don't say, 'I have found it,'" said the other, "but 'We have found it.' As we are companions, we ought to share it between us." The first would not agree to this idea, however.

They had not gone far when they heard the owner of the axe calling after them in a great pa.s.sion. "We are in for it!" cried he who had the axe.

"Nay," answered the other, "say 'I'm in for it!'--not we. You would not let me share the prize, and I am not going to share the danger."

The Fox in the Well

An unlucky Fox, having fallen into a well, was able, by dint of great efforts, just to keep his head above water.

While he was struggling there and sticking his claws into the side of the Well, a Wolf came and looked in. "What! my dear brother," cried he, with affected concern, "can it really be you that I see down there?

How cold you must feel! How long have you been in the water? How came you to fall in? I am so pained to see you. Do tell me all about it!"

"The end of a rope would be of more use to me than all your pity,"

answered the Fox.

"Just help me to get my foot on solid ground once more, and you shall have the whole story."

The Hen and the Fox

A Fox, having crept into an outhouse, looked up and down for something to eat, and at last espied a Hen sitting upon a perch so high that he could be no means 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.