my nature to do hurt to other beasts, nor to
shed blood; and, therefore, you cannot expect to hear any such
thing from me; but, to content you, I will relate to you what
happened innocently to me, while I was in the service of a
master. He was an old man, and apt to take cold in his feet; so
that, when he travelled, to keep them dry and warm, he was wont
to stick a little hay in his shoes. Now I carried him, one
winter, to an inn, where he was to lie all night; and when we
came to the door, the innkeeper brought him a pair of dry
slippers, that his dirty shoes might not soil the house; so that
he pulled them off, and left them without, and me by them. In
short, my master and his host found themselves so well in the
chimney-corner, that they never thought of poor me; but left me
all night in the bitter cold, without giving me a handful of
food: so that I ate up all the hay that stuck in his shoes. This
is all I have to say;--if you will call it a confession, you may:
however, I think nothing can be said against it."

"Oh!" said the Fox, immediately, "this is not, indeed, an offence
against the letter of the law, which mentions only the doing hurt
to beasts, and takes no notice of eating of hay; but, if we
reflect on the dangerous consequences of this action, and that so
reverend a creature as a chill, aged man, by being thus robbed of
his hay in the winter, and the next day continuing his road
without it, might have caught a cold, a cough, and a cholic, that
would have brought his grey hairs to the grave:--whoever, I say,
reflects on this, cannot but be of my opinion,--which is, that
the Ass largely deserves to die. Cousin Wolf, what say you to
this matter?" "I," said the Wolf, "am of opinion that by reason
of the ill consequences that might have attended this action, the
Ass deserves a double death, and to be made an example to
others." With that he leaped upon him, and tore out his throat,
and the Fox and he immediately ate him up.

MORAL.

Knaves can always find reasons for justifying their own conduct,
and condemning that of others.

FABLE CVI.

THE BOY AND THE BUTTERFLY.

A boy, greatly smitten with the colours of a Butterfly, pursued
it from flower to flower with indefatigable pains. First, he
aimed to surprise it among the leaves of a rose; then to cover it
with his hat, as it was feeding on a daisy; now hoped to secure
it, as it rested on a sprig of myrtle; and now grew sure of his
prize, pe