ing. Among the rest came the Monkey, carrying a baby monkey in
her arms, a hairless, flat-nosed little fright. When they saw it, the
gods all burst into peal on peal of laughter; but the Monkey hugged
her little one to her, and said, "Jupiter may give the prize to
whomsoever he likes: but I shall always think my baby the most
beautiful of them all."

FATHER AND SONS

A certain man had several Sons who were always quarrelling with one
another, and, try as he might, he could not get them to live together
in harmony. So he determined to convince them of their folly by the
following means. Bidding them fetch a bundle of sticks, he invited
each in turn to break it across his knee. All tried and all failed:
and then he undid the bundle, and handed them the sticks one by one,
when they had no difficulty at all in breaking them. "There, my boys,"
said he, "united you will be more than a match for your enemies: but
if you quarrel and separate, your weakness will put you at the mercy
of those who attack you."

Union is strength.

THE LAMP

A Lamp, well filled with oil, burned with a clear and steady light,
and began to swell with pride and boast that it shone more brightly
than the sun himself. Just then a puff of wind came and blew it out.
Some one struck a match and lit it again, and said, "You just keep
alight, and never mind the sun. Why, even the stars never need to be
relit as you had to be just now."

THE OWL AND THE BIRDS

The Owl is a very wise bird; and once, long ago, when the first oak
sprouted in the forest, she called all the other Birds together and
said to them, "You see this tiny tree? If you take my advice, you will
destroy it now when it is small: for when it grows big, the mistletoe
will appear upon it, from which birdlime will be prepared for your
destruction." Again, when the first flax was sown, she said to them,
"Go and eat up that seed, for it is the seed of the flax, out of which
men will one day make nets to catch you." Once more, when she saw the
first archer, she warned the Birds that he was their deadly enemy, who
would wing his arrows with their own feathers and shoot them. But they
took no notice of what she said: in fact, they thought she was rather
mad, and laughed at her. When, however, everything turned out as she
had foretold, they changed their minds and conceived a great respect
for her wisdom. Hence, whenever she appears, the Birds attend upon
her in th