The Lion and the mouse

A LION was awakened from sleep by a Mouse run-ning over his face. Rising up angrily, he caught him and was about to kill him, when the Mouse piteously entreated, saying: "If you would only spare my life, I would be sure to repay your kindness." The Lion laughed and let him go. It happened shortly after this that the Lion was caught by some hunters, who bound him by ropes to the ground. The Mouse, rec-ognizing his roar, came gnawed the rope with his teeth, and set him free, exclaim "You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you, expecting to receive from me any repayment of your favor; I now you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to con benefits on a Lion."

 Even the smallest friend is worthwhile

The Cock and the Jewel

A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: "If your owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; butI have found thee for no purpose. I would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world."

Precious things are for those that can prize them

A DOG, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He immediately let go of his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away.

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow

The Dog and the Shadow

A HORSE, proud of his fine trappings, met an Ass on the highway. The Ass, being heavily laden, moved slowly out of the way. "Hardly," said the Horse, "can I resist kicking you with my heels." The Ass held his peace, and made only a silent appeal to the justice of the gods. Not long afterwards the Horse, having become bro-ken-winded, was sent by his owner to the farm. The Ass, seeing him drawing a dung cart, thus derided him: "Where, O boaster, are now all thy gay trappings, thou who are thyself re-duced to the condition you so lately treated with contempt?”

The Horse and the Ass

Better humble security than gilded danger.

A CROW perishing with thirst saw a pitcher, and hoping to find water, flew to it with delight. When he reached it, he discovered to his grief that it contained so little water that he could not possibly get at it. He tried everything he could think of to reach the water, but all his efforts were in vain. At last he collected as many stones as he could carry and dropped them one by one with his beak into the pitcher, until he brought the water within his reach and thus saved his life.

The Crow and the Pitcher

Necessity is the mother of inven-tion.

Aesop’s Fable