1. The Man and the Serpent
A Countryman’s
son by accident trod upon a Serpent’s tail,which turned and bit him so that he
died. The father in arage got his axe, and pursuing the Serpent, cut off part
ofits tail. So the Serpent in revenge began stinging several ofthe Farmer’s
cattle and caused him severe loss. Well, theFarmer thought it best to make it
up with the Serpent, andbrought food and honey to the mouth of its lair, and
said toit: ‘Let’s forget and forgive; perhaps you were right to punishmy son, and
take vengeance on my cattle, but surely I wasright in trying to revenge him;
now that we are both satisfiedwhy should not we be friends again?’
‘No, no,’ said
the Serpent; ‘take away your gifts; you cannever forget the death of your son,
nor I the loss of my tail.’
Moral : Injuries may
be forgiven, but not forgotten.
2.
The Swallow and
theOther Birds
It happened
that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a field where a Swallow and
some other birds werehopping about picking up their food. ‘Beware of that
man,’quote the Swallow. ‘Why, what is he doing?’ said the others.‘That is hemp
seed he is sowing; be careful to pick up everyone of the seeds, or else you
will repent it.’ The birds paidno heed to the Swallow’s words, and by and by
the hempgrew up and was made into cord, and of the cords nets weremade, and
many a bird that had despised the Swallow’s advicewas caught in nets made out
of that very hemp. ‘Whatdid I tell you?’ said the Swallow.
Moral : Destroy the
seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.
3.
The
Woodman and the Serpent
One wintry day
a Woodman was tramping home fromhis work when he saw something black lying on
the snow.When he came closer he saw it was a Serpent to all appearancedead. But
he took it up and put it in his bosom to warmwhile he hurried home. As soon as
he got indoors he put theSerpent down on the hearth before the fire. The
childrenwatched it and saw it slowly come to life again. Then oneof them
stooped down to stroke it, but the Serpent raisedits head and put out its fangs
and was about to sting thechild to death. So the Woodman seized his axe, and
withone stroke cut the Serpent in two. ‘Ah,’ said he,
Moral : ‘No gratitude
from the wicked.’
4.
The
Bald Man and the Fly
There was once
a Bald Man who sat down after work on ahot summer’s day. A Fly came up and kept
buzzing abouthis bald pate and stinging him from time to time. The Manaimed a
blow at his little enemy, but acts palm came on hishead instead; again the Fly
tormented him, but this timethe Man was wiser and said:
‘You will only injure yourself if you take notice of
despicableenemies.’
5.
The
Fox and the Mask
A Fox had by some means got into the store-room of a
theatre.Suddenly he observed a face glaring down on him andbegan to be very
frightened; but looking more closely hefound it was only a Mask such as actors
use to put over theirface. ‘Ah,’ said the Fox, ‘you look very fine; it is a
pity youhave not got any brains.’
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