with him, one in front and one
behind, and both are packed full of faults. The Bag in front contains
his neighbours' faults, the one behind his own. Hence it is that men
do not see their own faults, but never fail to see those of others.

THE OXEN AND THE AXLETREES

A pair of Oxen were drawing a heavily loaded waggon along the highway,
and, as they tugged and strained at the yoke, the Axletrees creaked
and groaned terribly. This was too much for the Oxen, who turned round
indignantly and said, "Hullo, you there! Why do you make such a noise
when we do all the work?"

They complain most who suffer least.

THE BOY AND THE FILBERTS

A Boy put his hand into a jar of Filberts, and grasped as many as his
fist could possibly hold. But when he tried to pull it out again, he
found he couldn't do so, for the neck of the jar was too small to
allow of the passage of so large a handful. Unwilling to lose his nuts
but unable to withdraw his hand, he burst into tears. A bystander, who
saw where the trouble lay, said to him, "Come, my boy, don't be so
greedy: be content with half the amount, and you'll be able to get
your hand out without difficulty."

Do not attempt too much at once.

THE FROGS ASKING FOR A KING

Time was when the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to
rule over them: so they sent a deputation to Jupiter to ask him to
give them a King. Jupiter, despising the folly of their request, cast
a log into the pool where they lived, and said that that should be
their King. The Frogs were terrified at first by the splash, and
scuttled away into the deepest parts of the pool; but by and by, when
they saw that the log remained motionless, one by one they ventured to
the surface again, and before long, growing bolder, they began to feel
such contempt for it that they even took to sitting upon it. Thinking
that a King of that sort was an insult to their dignity, they sent to
Jupiter a second time, and begged him to take away the sluggish King
he had given them, and to give them another and a better one. Jupiter,
annoyed at being pestered in this way, sent a Stork to rule over them,
who no sooner arrived among them than he began to catch and eat the
Frogs as fast as he could.

THE OLIVE-TREE AND THE FIG-TREE

An Olive-tree taunted a Fig-tree with the loss of her leaves at a
certain season of the year. "You," she said, "lose your leaves every
autumn, and are bare till t