THE RUNAWAY SLAVE

 

266. THE FOX AND THE SNAKE A snake, in crossing a river, was carried away by the current, but managed to wriggle onto a bundle of thorns which was floating by, and was thus carried at a great rate downstream. A fox caught sight of it from the bank as it went whirling along, and called out, “Gad! The passenger fits the ship!”

267. THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE STAG A lion lay sick in his den, unable to provide himself with food. So he said to his friend the fox, who came to ask how he did, “My good friend, I wish you would go to yonder wood and beguile the big stag who lives there to come to my den. I have a fancy to make my dinner off a stag’s heart and brains.” The fox went to the wood and found the stag and said to him, “My dear sir, you’re in luck. You know the lion, our king. Well, he’s at the point of death, and has appointed you his successor to rule over the beasts. I hope you won’t forget that I was the first to bring you the good news. And now I must be going back to him, and, if you take my advice, you’ll come too and be with him at the last.” The stag was highly flattered, and followed the fox to the lion’s den, suspecting nothing. No sooner had he got inside than the lion sprang upon him, but he misjudged his spring, and the stag got away with only his ears torn and returned as fast as he could to the shelter of the wood. The fox was much mortified, and the lion, too, was dreadfully disappointed, for he was getting very hungry in spite of his illness. So he begged the fox to have another try at coaxing the stag to his den. “It’ll be almost impossible this time,” said the fox, “but I’ll try.” And off he went to the wood a second time, and found the stag resting and trying to recover from his fright. As soon as he saw the fox he cried, “You scoundrel, what do you mean by trying to lure me to my death like that? Take yourself off, or I’ll do you to death with my horns.” But the fox was entirely shameless. “What a coward you were,” said he. “Surely you didn’t think the lion meant any harm? Why, he was only going to whisper some royal secrets into your ear when you went off like a scared rabbit. You have rather disgusted him, and I’m not sure he won’t make the wolf king instead, unless you come back at once and show you’ve got some spirit. I promise you he won’t hurt you, and I will be your faithful servant.” The stag was foolish enough to be persuaded to return, and this time the lion made no mistake, but overpowered him, and feasted right royally upon his carcass. The fox, meanwhile, watched his chance and, when the lion wasn’t looking, filched away the brains 10 to reward him for his trouble. Presently the lion began searching for them, of course without success; and the fox, who was watching him, said, “I don’t think it’s much use your looking for the brains. A c r e a t u r e  w h o  t w i c e   w a l k e d  i n t o  a  l i o n ’ s d e n  c a n ’ t   h a v e   h a d   a n y.”

268. THE MAN WHO LOST HIS SPADE A man was engaged in digging over his vineyard, and one day on coming to work he missed his spade. Thinking it may . have been stolen by one of his labourers, he questioned them closely, but they one and all denied any knowledge of it. He was not convinced by their denials, and insisted that they should all go to the town and take oath in a temple that they were not guilty of the theft. This was because he had no great opinion of the simple country deities, but thought that the thief would not pass undetected by the shrewder gods of the town. When they got inside the gates the first thing they heard was the town crier proclaiming a reward for information about a thief who had stolen something from the city temple. “Well,” said the man to himself, “it strikes me I had better go back home again. If these town gods can’t detect the thieves who steal from their own temples, it’s scarcely likely they can tell me who stole my spade.”

269. THE PARTRIDGE AND THE FOWLER A fowler caught a partridge in his nets, and was just about to wring its neck when it made a piteous appeal to him to spare . its life and said, “Do not kill me, but let me live and I will repay you for your kindness by decoying other partridges into your nets.” “No,” said the fowler, “I will not spare you. I was going to kill you anyhow, and after that treacherous speech you thoroughly deserve your fate.”

270. THE RUNAWAY SLAVE A slave, being discontented with his lot, ran away from his master. He was soon missed by the latter, who lost no time in mounting his horse and setting out in pursuit of the fugitive. He presently came up with him, and the slave, in the hope of avoiding capture, slipped into a treadmill 11 and hid himself there. “Aha,” said his master, “that’s the very place for you, my man!”