THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE

 


81. THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE  A tortoise, discontented with his lowly life and envious of the birds he saw disporting themselves in the air, begged an eagle to teach him to fly. The eagle protested that it was idle for him to try, as nature had not provided him with wings. But the tortoise pressed him with entreaties and promises of treasure, insisting that it could only be a question of learning the craft of the air. So at length the eagle consented to do the best he could for him and picked him up in his talons. Soaring with him to a great height in the sky, he then let him go, and the wretched tortoise fell headlong and was dashed to pieces on a rock.


82. THE KID ON THE HOUSETOP  A kid climbed up onto the roof of an outhouse, attracted by the grass and other things that grew in the thatch. And as . he stood there browsing away he caught sight of a wolf passing below and jeered at him because he couldn’t reach him. The wolf only looked up and said, “I hear you, my young friend. But it is not you who mock me, but the roof on which you are standing.”


83. THE FOX WITHOUT A TAIL  A fox once fell into a trap and after a struggle managed to get free, but with the loss of his brush. He was then so much ashamed of his appearance that he thought life was not worth living unless he could persuade the other foxes to part with their tails also, and thus divert attention from his own loss. So he called a meeting of all the foxes and advised them to cut off their tails. “They’re ugly things anyhow,” he said, “and besides they’re heavy, and it’s tiresome to be always carrying them about with you.” But one of the other foxes said, “My friend, if you hadn’t lost your own tail you wouldn’t be so keen on getting us to cut off ours.”


84. THE VAIN JACKDAW Jupiter announced that he intended to appoint a king over the birds and named a day on which they were to appear before his throne, when he would select the most beautiful of them all to be their ruler. Wishing to look their best on the occasion they repaired to the banks of a stream, where they busied themselves in washing and preening their feathers. The jackdaw was there along with the rest, and realized that with his ugly plumage he would have no chance of being chosen as he was. So he waited till they were all gone, and then picked up the most gaudy of the feathers they had dropped and fastened them about his own body, with the result that he looked gayer than any of them. When the appointed day came, the birds assembled before Jupiter’s throne; and, after passing them in review, he was about to make the jackdaw king, when all the rest set upon the king-elect, stripped him of his borrowed plumes, and exposed him for the jackdaw that he was.


85. THE TRAVELER AND HIS DOG  A traveler was about to start on a journey and said to his dog, who was stretching himself by the door, “Come, what are . you yawning for? Hurry up and get ready. I mean you to go with me.” But the dog merely wagged his tail and said quietly, “I’m ready, master. It’s you I’m waiting for.”

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