A dog with a piece of meat in his mouth was crossing a bridge over a placid
stream. On looking down he saw another dog with a precisely similar piece
of meat in the water below him. "That's a singular incident," he thought to
himself as he prepared to jump in. "But hold a minute! The angle of
incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection. Upon reflection, I
find that the other dog and the meat are only optical phenomena." And he
trotted on his way to Boston without further thought about the matter.

[Illustration: The Dog and the Meat.]

The Fox and the Grapes.

A fox stood under an apple-tree and gazed up earnestly at the globes of
yellow lusciousness. "How sad, for the sake of an old-time piece of
literature," he said, "that the fox is a carnivorous animal and doesn't
care particularly about fruit!"

IMMORAL:

We all have plenty of faults without the Truly Good taking the trouble to
invent them for us.

[Illustration: The Fox and the Grapes.]

The Fox and the Crow.

A crow, having stolen a piece of flesh, perched in a tree to enjoy it at
leisure. A fox saw her, and, being hungry, thought he would employ a little
diplomacy to get the meat away from her.

"What a prima-donna the crow would be," he said, looking at her with mock
admiration, "if she only had a voice proportional to her other
attractions!"

The crow promptly dropped the piece of flesh on his head, completely
blinding him, and before he could recover from his surprise, lit on his
back and began to peck him viciously. "I'll have you to know," she cawed,
"that I'm a proper lady, and the man that compares me to them shameless
French singing hussies is going to get hurt."

IMMORAL:

Don't praise the soft whiteness of a labor delegate's hands.

[Illustration: The Fox and the Crow.]

The Ass in the Lion's Skin.

An ass, by some means unknown to the writer, having managed to get into a
lion's skin, ran around the neighborhood frightening the beasts into fits.
When he brayed, they said: "Jupiter! what a magnificent bass voice he has!"
and he was the pantata of that district until he died of old age.

IMMORAL:

A good bluff, well chucked, is liable to do considerable execution.

[Illustration: The Ass in the Lion's Skin.]

The Horse and the Oyster.

A very prancy horse, discovering an oyster on the sea-shore, thought to
show off a little and make the oyster envious.

After he had done some s