The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Talking Beasts, by Various, Edited by
Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith

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Title: The Talking Beasts

Author: Various

Release Date: October 20, 2004 [eBook #13815]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALKING BEASTS***

E-text prepared by Al Haines

THE TALKING BEASTS

A Book of Fable Wisdom

EDITED BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN AND NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

Illustrations by Harold Nelson

1922

"Accept, young Prince, the moral lay
And in these tales mankind survey;
With early virtues plant your breast
The specious arts of vice detest."

JOHN GAY
TO
HIS HIGHNESS
WILLIAM, DUKE OF CUMBERLAND

CONTENTS

I. Fables of Aesop. (Greek)

II. Fables of Bidpai. (Indian)

III. Fables from the Hitopadesa. (Sanskrit)

IV. Fables from P. V. Ramaswami Raju. (Indian)

V. Malayan Fables

VI. Moorish Fables

VII. African Fables

VIII. Fables from Krilof. (Russian)

IX. Fables from the Chinese

X. Fables of La Fontaine. (French)

XI. Fables from the Spanish of Carlos Yriarte

XII. Fables of Gay, Cowper, and others. (English)

For Eastern princes, long ago,
These fables, grave and gay,
Were written as a friendly guide
On life's perplexing way.
When Rumour came to court and news
Of such a book was heard,
The monarch languished till he might
Secure the Golden Word.

Prince of To-day, this little hook
A store-house is of treasure.
Unlock it and where'er you look
Is wisdom without measure.
'Twill teach thee of the meed of greed,
Of sowing versus reaping,
Of that mad haste that makes for waste,
And looking before leaping.

'Twill teach thee what is like to hap
To self-conceit and folly;
And show that who begins in sin
Will end in melancholy.
So take the book and learn of beast
And animate creation
The lesson that the least may teach,
However mean his station.

NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

INTRODUCTION

"Among all the different ways of giving couns