The Wolf and the Crane

A Wolf had been gorging on an animal he had killed, when suddenly a small bone in the meat stuck in his throat and he could not swallow it. He soon felt terrible pain in his throat, and ran up and down groaning and groaning and seeking for something to relieve the pain. He tried to induce every one he met to remove the bone.
‘I would give anything,’ said he, ‘if you would take it out.’
At last the Crane agreed to try, and told the Wolf to lie on his side and open his jaws as wide as he could. Then the Crane put its long neck down the Wolf’s throat, and with its beak loosened the bone, till at last it got it out.
‘Will you kindly give me the reward you promised?’ said the Crane.
The Wolf grinned and showed his teeth and said: ‘Be content. You have put your head inside a Wolf’s mouth and taken it out again in safety; that ought to be reward enough for you.’

Gratitude and greed go not together.

The Dog and the Shadow

It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath. Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that also. So he made a snap at the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

The Wolf and the Lamb

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. ‘There’s my supper,’ thought he, ‘if only I can find some excuse to seize it.’ Then he called out to the Lamb,
‘How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?’
‘Nay, master, nay,’ said Lambikin; ‘if the water be muddy up there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs
down from you to me.’
‘Well, then,’ said the Wolf, ‘why did you call me bad names this time last year?’
‘That cannot be,’ said the Lamb; ‘I am only six months old.’
‘I don’t care,’ snarled the Wolf; ‘if it was not you it was your father;’ and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and .WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA .ate her all up. But before she died she gasped out .’

Any excuse will serve a tyrant.’

The Cock and the Pearl

A cock was once strutting up and down the farmyard among the hens when suddenly he espied something
shinning amid the straw. ‘Ho! ho!’ quoth he, ‘that’s for me,’ and soon rooted it out from beneath the straw. What did it turn out to be but a Pearl that by some chance had been lost in the yard? ‘You may be a treasure,’ quoth Master Cock, ‘to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls.’

Precious things are for those that can prize them.

The Animal School

Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a “new world” so they organized a school. They had adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing,
swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming. In fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he
was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that, except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup work in swimming.The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying
class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed a “charlie horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree but insisted on using his own way to get there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceeding well and also run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian.
The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school.

THE WIND AND THE SUN

THE Wind and the Sun had a dispute as to which of the two was the stronger. They agreed that the one should be called stronger who should first make a man in the road take off his cloak. The Wind began to blow great guns, but the man only drew his cloak closer about him to keep out the cold. At last the gust was over.
Then the Sun took his turn. He shone and it was warm and bright. The man opened his cloak, threw it back, and at last took it off, and lay down in the shade where it was cool. So the Sun carried his point against the Wind. This fable teaches that gentleness often succeeds better than force

THE GOOSE THAT LAID GOLDEN EGGS

THERE was a man who had a Goose that always laid golden eggs, one every day in the year. Now, he thought there must be gold inside of her. So he wrung her neck and laid her open. He found that she was exactly like all other geese. He thought to find riches, and lost the little he had. This fable teaches that one should be content with what one has, and not be greedy.