Part 16 (1/2)

”Tweet, tweet,” laughed the Birds. ”Very smart, aren't you? We are very well, thank you, and more so, if _you_ only keep away from here.”

_Be wise and shun the quack._

THE DOG AND THE OYSTER

There was once a Dog who was very fond of eggs. He visited the hen house very often and at last got so greedy that he would swallow the eggs whole.

One day the Dog wandered down to the seash.o.r.e. There he spied an Oyster. In a twinkling the Oyster was resting in the Dog's stomach, sh.e.l.l and all.

It pained the Dog a good deal, as you can guess.

”I've learned that all round things are not eggs,” he said groaning.

_Act in haste and repent at leisure--and often in pain._

THE ASTROLOGER

A man who lived a long time ago believed that he could read the future in the stars. He called himself an Astrologer, and spent his time at night gazing at the sky.

One evening he was walking along the open road outside the village. His eyes were fixed on the stars. He thought he saw there that the end of the world was at hand, when all at once, down he went into a hole full of mud and water.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There he stood up to his ears, in the muddy water, and madly clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb out.

His cries for help soon brought the villagers running. As they pulled him out of the mud, one of them said:

”You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to see what is at your feet! This may teach you to pay more attention to what is right in front of you, and let the future take care of itself.”

”What use is it,” said another, ”to read the stars, when you can't see what's right here on the earth?”

_Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THREE BULLOCKS AND A LION

A Lion had been watching three Bullocks feeding in an open field.

He had tried to attack them several times, but they had kept together, and helped each other to drive him off. The Lion had little hope of eating them, for he was no match for three strong Bullocks with their sharp horns and hoofs. But he could not keep away from that field, for it is hard to resist watching a good meal, even when there is little chance of getting it.