Truth and the Traveler

A WAYFARING MAN, traveling in the desert, met a woman standing
alone and terribly dejected.  He inquired of her, "Who art thou?"
"My name is Truth," she replied.  "And for what cause," he asked,
"have you left the city to dwell alone here in the wilderness?"
She made answer, "Because in former times, falsehood was with
few, but is now with all men."

The Manslayer

A MAN committed a murder, and was pursued by the relations of the
man whom he murdered.  On his reaching the river Nile he saw a
Lion on its bank and being fearfully afraid, climbed up a tree.
He found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again
being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river, where a
crocodile caught him and ate him.  Thus the earth, the air, and
the water alike refused shelter to a murderer.

The Lion and the Fox

A FOX entered into partnership with a Lion on the pretense of
becoming his servant.  Each undertook his proper duty in
accordance with his own nature and powers.  The Fox discovered
and pointed out the prey; the Lion sprang on it and seized it.
The Fox soon became jealous of the Lion carrying off the Lion's
share, and said that he would no longer find out the prey, but
would capture it on his own account.  The next day he attempted
to snatch a lamb from the fold, but he himself fell prey to the
huntsmen and hounds.

The Lion and the Eagle

AN EAGLE stayed his flight and entreated a Lion to make an
alliance with him to their mutual advantage.  The Lion replied,
"I have no objection, but you must excuse me for requiring you to
find surety for your good faith, for how can I trust anyone as a
friend who is able to fly away from his bargain whenever he
pleases?'

Try before you trust.

The Hen and the Swallow

A HEN finding the eggs of a viper and carefully keeping them
warm, nourished them into life.  A Swallow, observing what she
had done, said, "You silly creature! why have you hatched these
vipers which, when they shall have grown, will inflict injury on
all, beginning with yourself?'

The Buffoon and the Countryman

A RICH NOBLEMAN once opened the theaters without charge to the
people, and gave a public notice that he would handsomely reward
any person who invented a new amusement for the occasion.
Various public performers contended for the prize.  Among them
came a Buffoon well known among the populace for his jokes, and
said that he had a kind of entertainment which had never been
brought out on any stage before.  This report being spread about
made a great stir, and the theater was crowded in every part.
The Buffoon appeared alone upon the platform, without any
apparatus or confederates, and the very sense of expectation
caused an intense silence.  He suddenly bent his head towards his
bosom and imitated the squeaking of a little pig so admirably
with his voice that the audience declared he had a porker under
his cloak, and demanded that it should be shaken out.  When that
was done and nothing was found, they cheered the actor, and
loaded him with the loudest applause.  A Countryman in the crowd,
observing all that has passed, said, "So help me, Hercules, he
shall not beat me at that trick!"  and at once proclaimed that he
would do the same thing on the next day, though in a much more
natural way.  On the morrow a still larger crowd assembled in the
theater, but now partiality for their favorite actor very
generally prevailed, and the audience came rather to ridicule the
Countryman than to see the spectacle.  Both of the performers
appeared on the stage.  The Buffoon grunted and squeaked away
first, and obtained, as on the preceding day, the applause and
cheers of the spectators.  Next the Countryman commenced, and
pretending that he concealed a little pig beneath his clothes
(which in truth he did, but not suspected by the audience )
contrived to take hold of and to pull his ear causing the pig to
squeak.  The Crowd, however, cried out with one consent that the
Buffoon had given a far more exact imitation, and clamored for
the Countryman to be kicked out of the theater.  On this the
rustic produced the little pig from his cloak and showed by the
most positive proof the greatness of their mistake.  "Look here,"
he said, "this shows what sort of judges you are."

The Crow and the Serpent

A CROW in great want of food saw a Serpent asleep in a sunny
nook, and flying down, greedily seized him.  The Serpent, turning
about, bit the Crow with a mortal wound.  In the agony of death,
the bird exclaimed:  "O unhappy me! who have found in that which I
deemed a happy windfall the source of my destruction."

The Hunter and the Horseman

A CERTAIN HUNTER, having snared a hare, placed it upon his
shoulders and set out homewards.  On his way he met a man on
horseback who begged the hare of him, under the pretense of
purchasing it.  However, when the Horseman got the hare, he rode
off as fast as he could.  The Hunter ran after him, as if he was
sure of overtaking him, but the Horseman increased more and more
the distance between them.  The Hunter, sorely against his will,
called out to him and said, "Get along with you! for I will now
make you a present of the hare."

The King's Son and the Painted Lion

A KING, whose only son was fond of martial exercises, had a dream
in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion.
Afraid the dream should prove true, he built for his son a
pleasant palace and adorned its walls for his amusement with all
kinds of life-sized animals, among which was the picture of a
lion.  When the young Prince saw this, his grief at being thus
confined burst out afresh, and, standing near the lion, he said:
"O you most detestable of animals! through a lying dream of my
father's, which he saw in his sleep, I am shut up on your account
in this palace as if I had been a girl:  what shall I now do to
you?'  With these words he stretched out his hands toward a
thorn-tree, meaning to cut a stick from its branches so that he
might beat the lion.  But one of the tree's prickles pierced his
finger and caused great pain and inflammation, so that the young
Prince fell down in a fainting fit.  A violent fever suddenly set
in, from which he died not many days later.

We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.