tell him the cure, when he replied, "You must flay a wolf alive
and wrap his skin yet warm around you." The Wolf was at once taken and
flayed; whereon the Fox, turning to him, said with a smile, "You should
have moved your master not to ill, but to good, will."

The Dog's House

IN THE WINTERTIME, a Dog curled up in as small a space as possible on
account of the cold, determined to make himself a house. However when
the summer returned again, he lay asleep stretched at his full length
and appeared to himself to be of a great size. Now he considered that
it would be neither an easy nor a necessary work to make himself such a
house as would accommodate him.

The Wolf and the Lion

ROAMING BY the mountainside at sundown, a Wolf saw his own shadow become
greatly extended and magnified, and he said to himself, "Why should I,
being of such an immense size and extending nearly an acre in length,
be afraid of the Lion? Ought I not to be acknowledged as King of all
the collected beasts?" While he was indulging in these proud thoughts,
a Lion fell upon him and killed him. He exclaimed with a too late
repentance, "Wretched me! this overestimation of myself is the cause of
my destruction."

The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat

THE BIRDS waged war with the Beasts, and each were by turns the
conquerors. A Bat, fearing the uncertain issues of the fight, always
fought on the side which he felt was the strongest. When peace was
proclaimed, his deceitful conduct was apparent to both combatants.
Therefore being condemned by each for his treachery, he was driven
forth from the light of day, and henceforth concealed himself in dark
hiding-places, flying always alone and at night.

The Spendthrift and the Swallow

A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his patrimony and
had but one good cloak left. One day he happened to see a Swallow, which
had appeared before its season, skimming along a pool and twittering
gaily. He supposed that summer had come, and went and sold his cloak.
Not many days later, winter set in again with renewed frost and cold.
When he found the unfortunate Swallow lifeless on the ground, he
said, "Unhappy bird! what have you done? By thus appearing before the
springtime you have not only killed yourself, but you have wrought my
destruction also."

The Fox and the Lion

A FOX saw a Lion confined in a cage, and standing near him, bitterly
reviled him. The Lion said to