13. The Ants and the Grasshopper
THE ANTS were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected in the summertime.
A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food.
The Ants inquired of him, "Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?'
He replied, "I had not leisure enough.
I passed the days in singing."
They then said in derision:
"If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter."
14. The Traveler and His Dog
A TRAVELER about to set out on a journey saw his Dog stand at the door stretching himself. He asked him sharply:
"Why do you stand there gaping? Everything is ready but you, so come with me instantly."
The Dog, wagging his tail, replied:
"O, master! I am quite ready; it is you for whom I am waiting."
The loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend.
15. The Dog and the Shadow
A DOG, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size.
He immediately let go of his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him.
He thus lost both:
That which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away. |
