The Talking Beasts Part 18

A Hare and a Pig once agreed to leap over a ditch. The Hare went a great way, and fell into it, just short by an inch. The Pig went some way and fell into it; but far behind the Hare. Yet they were eager to know which of them leapt more, and was therefore the better animal.

So they said to a Fox, who had been watching the race: "Will you tell us which of us is superior, and which inferior, in the race?"

The Fox said: "_Both in the ditch: can't say which!_"

The Peac.o.c.k and the Fox

A Fox, who had an eye on a Peac.o.c.k, was one day standing in a field with his face turned up to the sky.

"Reynard," said the Peac.o.c.k, "what have you been doing?"

"Oh, I have been counting the stars," said the Fox.

"How many are they?" said the Peac.o.c.k.

"About as many as the fools on earth," said the Fox.

"But which do you think is the greater, the number of the stars or of the fools?" asked the Peac.o.c.k.

"If you put it so, I should say the fools are more by one," said the Fox.

"Who is that one?" said the Peac.o.c.k.

"Why, my own silly self!" said the Fox.

"How are you silly, Reynard?" questioned the Peac.o.c.k.

"Why, was it not foolish of me to count the stars in the sky, when I could have counted the stars in your brilliant plumage to better advantage?" said the Fox.

"No, Reynard," said the Peac.o.c.k, "therein is not your folly--although there is neither wit nor wisdom in your prattle--but in the thought that your fine words would make an easy prey of me!"

The Fox quietly left the place, saying: "_The Knave that hath been found out cannot have legs too quick_."

The Tiger and the Giraffe

A Tiger, named Old Guile, who had grown weak with age, was lying under a tree by the side of a lake in quest of some animal off which he could make a meal.

A Giraffe, named Tall Stripes, who came to the lake to quench his thirst, attracted his attention, and Old Guile addressed him as follows: "Oh, what a happy day! I see there the son of my old friend Yellow Haunch, who lived in the great forest near that distant mountain."

Tall Stripes was astonished to hear the words of Old Guile, and asked him how he, a Tiger, could be the friend of his father, a Giraffe.

"I am not surprised at your question," replied Old Guile; "it is a truth known to very few indeed that the Tiger and the Giraffe belong to the same family. Just look at your skin and my own: yours is of a pale yellow colour, mine is very nearly the same; you have stripes, I have them, too. What more proofs do you want?"

Tall Stripes, who was extremely simple and guileless, believed these words, and said: "I am very happy to know that my father was your friend, and that we are of the same family. Can I do anything for you?"

Old Guile replied, "No, thank you; old as I am, I make it a point of relying on myself. Further, a great part of my time is spent in prayer and meditation; for I consider it necessary, at this age, to devote all my attention to spiritual things. It will, however, be a great gratification to me to have your company whenever you should chance to pa.s.s by this lake."

Tall Stripes acceded to this request, and was about to go on his Way, when Old Guile observed; "My dear Tall Stripes, you are well aware of the instability of all earthly things. I am old and infirm, and who knows what may happen to me to-morrow. Perhaps I may not see you again; so let me do myself the pleasure of embracing you before you leave me for the present."

"Certainly," said Tall Stripes. Thereupon Old Guile rose up slowly from his seat, like one devoid of all energy, and embracing him, plunged his deadly teeth into his long neck, and stretching him on the ground made a hearty breakfast on him.

_Beware of the crafty professions of the wicked_.

The Man of Luck and the Man of Pluck

A King in the East said to his Minister; "Do you believe in luck?"

"I do," said the Minister.

"Can you prove it?" said the King.

"Yes, I can," said the Minister.

So one night he tied up to the ceiling of a room a parcel containing peas mixed with diamonds, and let in two men, one of whom believed in luck and the other in human effort alone. The former quietly laid himself down on the ground; the latter after a series of efforts reached the parcel, and feeling in the dark the peas and the stones, ate the former, one by one, and threw down the latter at his companion, saying, "Here are the stones for your idleness." The man below received them in his blanket.

In the morning the king and the minister came to the room and bade each take to himself what he had got. The Man of Effort found he had nothing beyond the peas he had eaten. The Man of Luck quietly walked away with the diamonds.

The Minister said to the King: "Sire, there is such a thing as luck; but it is as rare as peas mixed with diamonds. So I would say: '_Let none hope to live by luck_.'"

The Fox and the Crabs

One day a Fox seated himself on a stone by a stream and wept aloud.

The Crabs in the holes around came up to him and said: "Friend, why are you wailing so loud?"

"Alas!" said the Fox, "I have been turned by my kindred out of the wood, and do not know what to do."

"Why were you turned out?" asked the Crabs in a tone of pity.

"Because," said the Fox, sobbing, "they said they should go out to-night hunting Crabs by the stream, and I said it would be a pity to lull such pretty little creatures."

"Where will you go hereafter?" said the Crabs.

"Where I can get work," said the Fox; "for I would not go to my kindred again, come what would."

Then the Crabs held a meeting, and came to the conclusion that, as the Fox had been thrown out by his kindred on their account, they could do nothing better than engage his services to defend them. So they told the Fox of their intention. He readily consented, and spent the whole day in amusing the Crabs with all kinds of tricks.

Night came. The moon rose in full splendour. The Fox said: "Have you ever been out for a walk in the moonlight?"

"Never, friend," said the Crabs; "we are such little creatures that we are afraid of going far from our holes."