Chapter 206 Three bulls were such great friends that they always grazed together in the same field. A lion had watched them for many days with longing in his eyes in the hope of seizing at least one of them for his prize, but he found that there was little chance so long as they […]
Chapter 205 Pursued by an eagle, a hare took refuge in the nest of a beetle, whom he begged to save him. The beetle felt compassion for the hare and pleaded with the eagle not to kill the poor creature. In the name of mighty Jupiter, the beetle requested that the eagle respect his intercession
Chapter 204 A scorpion and a frog met on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asked the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog doubted him but asked, “How do I know you won’t sting me?”The scorpion said, “Because if I do, I will die too.”The foolish frog was satisfied,
Chapter 203 One hot summer’s day, a traveller hired an ass to carry him from Athens to Megara. At noon the sun’s heat was so scorching that he dismounted and wanted to relax under the ass’s shadow. But the driver of the ass claimed that he had equal rights to the spot and wanted to
Chapter 202 There was once a cat that fell in love with a young man and prayed to Venus to change her into a girl, hoping to win his affections. The goddess felt compassion for the cat and transformed her into a fair damsel. As a result, the young man fell in love with the
Chapter 201 A lean and hungry mouse had made his way into a basket of corn with some difficulty. He found the fare so good, and he stuffed himself with such a voracious appetite that, when he wanted to get out of the basket, he found the hole too small to allow his bloated body
Chapter 200 Two men, deadly enemies to each other, were sailing in the same vessel. Determined to keep as far apart as possible, the one seated himself in the stern, and the other in the prow of the ship. A violent storm arose, and with the vessel in great danger of sinking, the one in
Chapter 199 After a stubborn goat had strayed from the herd and stood on the edge of a high rock nibbling grass, the goatherd did his best to bring him back to his companions. He tried calling and whistling without success, and at last, having lost his patience, he picked up a stone and struck
Chapter 198 The mice and the weasels had been at war with each other for a long time. Since the mice had continually got the worse of the battle, they gathered together at a solemn meeting, where they agreed that their defeats were due to nothing but a lack of discipline. Therefore, they decided to
Chapter 197 Adorned with his fine trappings, a stallion, who was on his way to war, came thundering along the road and aroused the envy of a poor ass, who was trudging along the same route with a heavy load on his back.“Get out of my way,” cried the proud horse, “or I’ll trample you
Chapter 196 A thrifty old widow had two hired maids whom she used to call to work at the first crow of the cock. The maids hated getting up so early in the morning and decided to wring the cock’s neck, since he was the one who woke their mistress and was the cause of
Chapter 195 A kid who had strayed from the herd was pursued by a wolf. When he saw that there was no hope of escape, he turned around and said to the wolf, “I must admit, indeed, that I am your victim, and since my life will now be very short, let it be a
Chapter 194 Some bees had built their comb in the hollow trunk of an oak tree. However, the drones claimed that they had done all the work and the comb belonged to them, not the bees. They brought their case to court before judge wasp, who knew something about both parties and thus addressed them
Chapter 193 A falconer caught a partridge in his net, and the bird cried out in sorrow, “Let me go, good falconer, and I promise you that I will serve you as a decoy and attract other partridges intoyour net.”“No,” the man said. “I might have done something else with you, but now I’m definitely
Chapter 192 Some cranes settled down in a farmer’s field that had recently been sown with wheat, and made it their feeding ground. For some time the farmer frightened them away by threatening them with an empty sling. But when the cranes discovered that he was only slinging air, they were no longer afraid of