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Friday, September 03, 2010 - 8:25 PM
The Tortoise and the Eagle
A Tortoise, lazily basking in the sun, complained to the sea-birds
of her hard fate, that no one would teach her to fly. An Eagle, hovering
near, heard her lamentation and demanded what reward she would give him
if he would take her aloft and float her in the air. "I will give you,"
she said, "all the riches of the Red Sea." "I will teach you to fly then,"
said the Eagle; and taking her up in his talons he carried her almost to
the clouds suddenly he let her go, and she fell on a lofty mountain, dashing
her shell to pieces. The Tortoise exclaimed in the moment of death: "I
have deserved my present fate; for what had I to do with wings and clouds,
who can with difficulty move about on the earth?'
If men had all they wished, they would be often
ruined.
The Flies and the Honey-Pot
A number of Flies were attracted to a jar of honey which had been
overturned in a housekeeper's room, and placing their feet in it, ate greedily.
Their feet, however, became so smeared with the honey that they could
not use their wings, nor release themselves, and were suffocated. Just
as they were expiring, they exclaimed, "O foolish creatures that we are,
for the sake of a little pleasure we have destroyed
ourselves."
Pleasure bought with pains, hurts.
The Man and the Lion
A Man and a Lion traveled together through the forest. They soon
began to boast of their respective superiority to each other in strength
and prowess. As they were disputing, they passed a statue carved in stone,
which represented "a Lion strangled by a Man." The traveler pointed to
it and said: "See there! How strong we are, and how we prevail over even
the king of beasts." The Lion replied: "This statue was made by one of
you men. If we Lions knew how to erect statues, you would see Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
placed under the paw of the Lion."
One story is good, till another is told.
The Farmer and the Cranes
Some cranes made their feeding grounds on some plowlands newly
sown with wheat. For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling,
chased them away by the terror he inspired; but when the birds found that
the sling was only swung in the air, they ceased to take any notice of
it and would not move. The Farmer, on seeing this, charged his sling with
stones, and killed a great number. The remaining birds at once forsook
his fields, crying to each other, "It is time for us to be off to Liliput:
for this man is no longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in
earnest what he can do."
If words suffice not, blows must follow.
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