1.The Wolf And The Lamb
A WOLF meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold,resolved not to lay violent hands on him,but to find some plea,which should justify to the Lamb himself his right to eat him.He thus addressed him:"Sirrah,last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice,"I was not then born." Then said the Wolf,"You feed in my pasture." "No,good sir," replied the Lamb,"I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf,"You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb,"I never yet drank water,for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." On which the Wolf seized him,and ate him up,saying,"Well!I won't remain supperless,even though you refute every one of my imputations."
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 therefore let go 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.
Aesops Fables
3.The Cherry Tree
WHEN George Washington was about six years old,he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet of which,like most little boys,he was extremely fond.He went about chopping everything that came his way.
One day,as he wandered about the garden amusing himself by hacking his mother's pea- sticks,he found a beautiful,young English cherry tree,of which his father was most proud.He tried the edge of his hatchet on the trunk of the tree and barked it so that it died.
Some time after this,his father discovered what had happened to his favorite tree.He came into the house in great anger,and demanded to know who the mischievous person was who had cut away the bark.Nobody could tell him anything about it.
Just then George,with his little hatchet,came into the room.
"George," said his father,"do you know who has killed my beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden?I would not have taken five guineas for it!"
This was a hard question to answer,and for a moment George was staggered by it,but quickly recovering himself he cried:--
"I cannot tell a lie,father,you know I cannot tell a lie!I did cut it with my little hatchet."
The anger died out of his father's face,and taking the boy tenderly in his arms,he said:--
"My son,that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees!yes,though they were blossomed with silver and had leaves of the purest gold!"
-- M.L.Weems
