THE WOLF AND THE LAMB.

MORAL:-TYRANTS SOON FIND A PLEA TO OPPRESS THE WEAK.

One hot day in June, a Wolf and a Lamb came by chance to the same brook, to quench their thirst. The Wolf stood some way up the stream, and the Lamb drank of it a good way down. The Wolf, to have words with him, calls out, How dare you stir up the mud while I drink? The Lamb, in great fear, said, You see, Sir, the rill runs from you to me. Be that as it may, howls the Wolf, you are a knave; and I have been told what you said of me, full half a year back. On my word, says the Lamb, at the time you speak of, I was not born. If it was not you, it was some of your kin, and that is just the same; so he caught the poor Lamb by the throat, and made a meal of him.

THE FROGS WHO WANTED A KING.

MORAL:-WHEN YOU ARE WELL OFF, BE CONTENT.

The Frogs, though free, and at ease in their lakes and ponds, sent to Jove to ask him to let them have a king, to rule their state, and give them a name and style, in the eyes of the world. The king of the gods, with a smile at their wish, threw them down a log of wood, and said, There is a king for you! The splash it made in the pond, put them all in great dread for a time, so that no one durst go near it. At length, when they found

that it lay still, and that there was no harm in it, they leapt on and off it, and thought it was no use to have such a block for a king. They then sent to ask for one of more might and rule. Jove now sent them a Stork, who snapt them up one by one, as fast as he could. They then sought to be freed from king Stork, and to have again good king Log to rule them. But Jove would not grant their wish, since they did not know when they were well off.

THE OLD MAN AND THE BAG OF GOLD.

MORAL:-WE SHOULD NOT GRIEVE FOR THE LOSS OF THAT OF WHICH WE MAKE NO USE.

An old Man who had got a great bag of gold, but not, it would seem, in a good way, that he might not lose it, dug a deep hole in the ground, and hid it there. When he got up, the first thing he did, was to go and see if his store was safe, and to feast his eyes with the sight of it. At length, a thief, who had seen him there more than once, thought there was some cause for it, and said that he would go in the night, and search the place. He did so, found the old man's gold, and ran off with it. Next day, when he came to the spot, and saw that all was lost, he tore his hair, and beat his breast, and was quite wild with grief. A man who saw him in this state, came up to him and said, Hey! old boy, what is the cause of all this? He told his tale of woe, but all he got from him was,

Pooh! what do you rave so for, and look so wild with grief? You have no use for gold. The hole is left, you see. Come and look at it, and do but think your store there still, and it will be just the same.