forehead with his heels.

The Ass and the Wolf.

[Illustration]

An Ass, feeding in a meadow, saw a Wolf approaching to seize him, and
immediately pretended to be lame. The Wolf, coming up, inquired the
cause of his lameness. The Ass said that he had a thorn in his foot, and
requested the Wolf to pull it out. The Wolf consenting, the Ass with his
heels kicked his teeth into his mouth, and galloped away. The Wolf
said: "I am rightly served, for why did I attempt the art of healing,
when my father only taught me the trade of a butcher?"

Every one to his trade.

The Horse and the Groom.

[Illustration]

A Groom used to spend whole days in currycombing and rubbing down his
Horse, but at the same time stole his oats, and sold them for his own
profit. "Alas!" said the Horse, "if you really wish me to be in good
condition, you should groom me less, and feed me more."

If you wish to do a service, do it right.

The Ass and his Shadow.

[Illustration]

A traveler hired an Ass to convey him to a distant place. The day being
intensely hot, and the sun shining in its strength, the traveler stopped
to rest, and sought shelter from the heat under the Shadow of the Ass.
As this afforded only protection for one, and as the traveler and the
owner of the Ass both claimed it, a violent dispute arose between them
as to which of them had the right to it. The owner maintained that he
had let the Ass only, and not his Shadow. The traveler asserted that he
had, with the hire of the Ass, hired his Shadow also. The quarrel
proceeded from words to blows, and while the men fought the Ass galloped
off.

In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance.

The Horse and the Loaded Ass.

[Illustration]

An idle Horse, and an Ass laboring under a heavy burden, were traveling
the road together. The Ass, ready to faint under his heavy load,
entreated the Horse to assist him, and lighten his burden, by taking
some of it upon his back. The Horse was ill-natured and refused to do
it; upon which the poor Ass tumbled down in the midst of the highway,
and expired. The countryman then took the whole burden, and laid it
upon the Horse, together with the skin of the dead Ass.

Laziness often prepares a burden for its own back.

[Illustration]

The Mules and the Robbers.

Two Mules laden with packs were trudging along. One carried panniers
filled with money, the other sacks of grain. The M