112. The Playful Ass
AN ASS climbed up to the roof of a building, and frisking about there, broke in the tiling. The owner went up after him and quickly drove him down, beating him severely with a thick wooden cudgel.
The Ass said, "Why, I saw the Monkey do this very thing yesterday, and you all laughed heartily, as if it afforded you very great amusement."
113. The Three Tradesmen
A GREAT CITY was besieged, and its inhabitants were called together to consider the best means of protecting it from the enemy.
A Bricklayer earnestly recommended bricks as affording the best material for an effective resistance.
A Carpenter, with equal enthusiasm, proposed timber as a preferable method of defense.
Upon which a Currier stood up and said, "Sirs, I differ from you altogether: there is no material for resistance equal to a covering of hides; and nothing so good as leather."
Every man for himself.
114. The Master and His Dogs
A CERTAIN MAN, detained by a storm in his country house, first of all killed his sheep, and then his goats, for the maintenance of his household.
The storm still continuing, he was obliged to slaughter his yoke oxen for food.
On seeing this, his Dogs took counsel together, and said, "It is time for us to be off, for if the master spare not his oxen, who work for his gain, how can we expect him to spare us?'
He is not to be trusted as a friend who mistreats his own family. |
