THE DOG AND HIS REFLECTION

 


91. THE EAGLE AND HIS CAPTOR A man once caught an eagle, and after clipping his wings turned him loose among the fowls in his henhouse, where he moped in a corner, looking very dejected and forlorn. After a while his captor was glad enough to sell him to a neighbor, who took him home and let his wings grow again. As soon as he had recovered the use of them, the eagle flew out and caught a hare, which he brought home and presented to his benefactor. A fox observed this, and said to the eagle, “Don’t waste your gifts on him! Go and give them to the man who first caught you; make him your friend, and then perhaps he won’t catch you and clip your wings a second time.”


92. THE BLACKSMITH AND HIS DOG  A blacksmith had a little dog, which used to sleep when his master was at work, but was wide awake indeed when it was time for meals. One day his master pretended to be disgusted at this, and when he had thrown him a bone as usual, he said, “What on earth is the good of a lazy cur like you? When I am hammering away at my anvil, you just curl up and go to sleep; but no sooner do I stop for a mouthful of food than you wake up and wag your tail to be fed.” Those who will not work deserve to starve.


93. THE STAG AT THE POOL  A thirsty stag went down to a pool to drink. As he bent over the surface he saw his own reflection in the water, and was struck with admiration for his fine spreading antlers, but at the same time he felt nothing but disgust for the weakness and slenderness of his legs. While he stood there looking at himself, he was seen and attacked by a lion; but in the chase which ensued, he soon drew away from his pursuer, and kept his lead as long as the ground over which he ran was open and free of trees. But coming presently to a wood, he was caught by his antlers in the branches, and fell a victim to the teeth and claws of his enemy. “Woe is me!” he cried with his last breath. “I despised my legs, which might have saved my life. But I gloried in my horns, and they have proved my ruin.” What is worth most is often valued least.


94. THE DOG AND HIS REFLECTION  A dog was crossing a plank bridge over a stream with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he happened to see his own . reflection in the water. He thought it was another dog with a piece of meat twice as big; so he let go his own, and flew at the other dog to get the other piece. But, of course, all that happened was that he got neither; for one was only a reflection, and the other was carried away by the current.


95. MERCURY AND THE TRADESMEN  When Jupiter was creating man, he told Mercury to make an infusion of lies, and to add a little of it to the other ingredients which went to the making of the tradesmen. Mercury did so, and introduced an equal amount into each in turn— the tallow chandler, and the greengrocer, and the haberdasher, and all, till he came to the horse dealer, who was last on the list, when, finding that he had a quantity of the infusion still left, he put it all into him. This is why all tradesmen lie more or less, but they none of them lie like a horse dealer.

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