he Horseman
increased more and more the distance between them. The Hunter, sorely
against his will, called out to him and said, "Get along with you! for I
will now make you a present of the hare."

The King's Son and the Painted Lion

A KING, whose only son was fond of martial exercises, had a dream in
which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion. Afraid the
dream should prove true, he built for his son a pleasant palace and
adorned its walls for his amusement with all kinds of life-sized
animals, among which was the picture of a lion. When the young Prince
saw this, his grief at being thus confined burst out afresh, and,
standing near the lion, he said: "O you most detestable of animals!
through a lying dream of my father's, which he saw in his sleep, I am
shut up on your account in this palace as if I had been a girl: what
shall I now do to you?" With these words he stretched out his hands
toward a thorn-tree, meaning to cut a stick from its branches so that he
might beat the lion. But one of the tree's prickles pierced his finger
and caused great pain and inflammation, so that the young Prince fell
down in a fainting fit. A violent fever suddenly set in, from which he
died not many days later.

We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.

The Cat and Venus

A CAT fell in love with a handsome young man, and entreated Venus to
change her into the form of a woman. Venus consented to her request and
transformed her into a beautiful damsel, so that the youth saw her and
loved her, and took her home as his bride. While the two were reclining
in their chamber, Venus wishing to discover if the Cat in her change
of shape had also altered her habits of life, let down a mouse in the
middle of the room. The Cat, quite forgetting her present condition,
started up from the couch and pursued the mouse, wishing to eat it.
Venus was much disappointed and again caused her to return to her former
shape.

Nature exceeds nurture.

The She-Goats and Their Beards

THE SHE-GOATS having obtained a beard by request to Jupiter, the
He-Goats were sorely displeased and made complaint that the females
equaled them in dignity. "Allow them," said Jupiter, "to enjoy an empty
honor and to assume the badge of your nobler sex, so long as they are
not your equals in strength or courage."

It matters little if those who are inferior to us in merit should be
like us in outside appearances.