" "Why, are you able to secure the means of living by your
plunder?" "Well, I have often caught and carried away an ostrich in my
talons." The Eagle, persuaded by these words, accepted him as her mate.
Shortly after the nuptials, the Eagle said, "Fly off and bring me back
the ostrich you promised me." The Kite, soaring aloft into the air,
brought back the shabbiest possible mouse, stinking from the length
of time it had lain about the fields. "Is this," said the Eagle, "the
faithful fulfillment of your promise to me?" The Kite replied, "That
I might attain your royal hand, there is nothing that I would not have
promised, however much I knew that I must fail in the performance."

The Ass and His Driver

AN ASS, being driven along a high road, suddenly started off and bolted
to the brink of a deep precipice. While he was in the act of throwing
himself over, his owner seized him by the tail, endeavoring to pull him
back. When the Ass persisted in his effort, the man let him go and said,
"Conquer, but conquer to your cost."

The Thrush and the Fowler

A THRUSH was feeding on a myrtle-tree and did not move from it because
its berries were so delicious. A Fowler observed her staying so long in
one spot, and having well bird-limed his reeds, caught her. The Thrush,
being at the point of death, exclaimed, "O foolish creature that I am!
For the sake of a little pleasant food I have deprived myself of my
life."

The Rose and the Amaranth

AN AMARANTH planted in a garden near a Rose-Tree, thus addressed it:
"What a lovely flower is the Rose, a favorite alike with Gods and with
men. I envy you your beauty and your perfume." The Rose replied, "I
indeed, dear Amaranth, flourish but for a brief season! If no cruel hand
pluck me from my stem, yet I must perish by an early doom. But thou art
immortal and dost never fade, but bloomest for ever in renewed youth."

The Frogs' Complaint Against the Sun

ONCE UPON A TIME, when the Sun announced his intention to take a
wife, the Frogs lifted up their voices in clamor to the sky. Jupiter,
disturbed by the noise of their croaking, inquired the cause of their
complaint. One of them said, "The Sun, now while he is single, parches
up the marsh, and compels us to die miserably in our arid homes. What
will be our future condition if he should beget other suns?"

LIFE OF AESOP

THE LIFE and History of Aesop is involved, like that of Homer, the most
famous o