ur useless
people. When I drink, I will open my mouth only a little wider, and
you shall be swallowed like the water. And to-morrow I shall forget
that I drank to-day.'

"'Boastful one,' said the Mosquitoes, 'we do not believe that you have
the power to destroy all our people. If you wish battle, we shall see.
We know your name is great and that all animals bow their heads before
you; but our people can kill you.'

"The Lion jumped high in his rage and said, 'No other creature in the
wilderness has dared to say these things to me--the king. Have I come
to the vile well of the silly Mosquitoes for wisdom?' And he held his
head high, and gave the mighty roar of battle, and made ready to kill
all the Mosquitoes.

"Then the Mosquitoes, big and little, flew around him. Many went into
his ears, and the smallest ones went into his nose, and the big old
ones went into his mouth to sting. A thousand and a thousand hung in
the air just over his head and made a great noise, and the Lion soon
knew that he could not conquer.

"He roared and jumped, and two of his front feet went down into the
well. The well was narrow and deep and he could not get out, for his
two hind feet were in the air and his head hung downward. And as he
died, he said to himself:

"'My pride and anger have brought me this fate. Had I used gentle
words, the Mosquitoes might have given me water for my thirst. I was
wise and strong in the wilderness, and even the greatest of the animals
feared my power. But I fought with the Mosquitoes and I die--not
because I have not strength to overcome, but because of the foolishness
of anger."

EE-SZE (Meaning): The wise can conquer the foolish. Power is nothing,
strength is nothing. The wise, gentle and careful can always win.

FABLES OF LA FONTAINE*

"Of Fables judge not by their face;
They give the simplest brute a teacher's place.
Bare precepts were inert and tedious things;
The story gives them life and wings."

JEAN DE LA FONTAINE

*Translated by Elizur Wright, Jr.

FABLES OF LA FONTAINE

The Grasshopper and the Ant

A Grasshopper gay
Sang the summer away,
And found herself poor
By the winter's first roar.
Of meat or of bread,
Not a morsel she had!
So a-begging she went,
To her neighbour the Ant,
For the loan of some wheat,
Which would serve her to eat,
Till the season came round.
"I will pay you," she saith,
"On an