ncy it is the gold. It
will serve you just as well, for when the gold was there you made no use
of it."

The Wolf and the Goat.

[Illustration]

A Wolf saw a Goat feeding at the summit of a steep precipice, where he
had not a chance of reaching her. He called to her, and earnestly
besought her to come lower down, lest she should by some mishap get a
fall; and he added that the meadows lay where he was standing, and that
the herbage was most tender. She replied: "No, my friend, it is not of
me you are thinking, but of yourself."

Invitations prompted by selfishness are not to be accepted.

The Bald Knight.

[Illustration]

A Bald Knight, who wore a wig, went out to hunt. A sudden puff of wind
blew off his hat and wig, at which a loud laugh rang forth from his
companions. He joined in the joke by saying: "What marvel that hairs
which are not mine should fly from me, when my own have forsaken even
the man with whom they were born."

Those who cannot take care of their own, should not be entrusted with
the care of another's property.

The Fox and the Wood-Cutter.

[Illustration]

A Fox, running before the hounds, came across a Wood-cutter felling an
oak, and besought him to show him a safe hiding-place. The Wood-cutter
advised him to take shelter in his own hut. The Fox crept in, and hid
himself in a corner. The Huntsman came up, with his hounds, in a few
minutes, and inquired of the Wood-cutter if he had seen the Fox. He
declared that he had not seen him, and yet pointed, all the time he was
speaking, to the hut where the Fox lay hid. The Huntsman took no notice
of the signs, but, believing his word, hastened forward in the chase. As
soon as they were well away, the Fox departed without taking any notice
of the Wood-cutter; whereon he called to him, and reproached him,
saying: "You ungrateful fellow, you owe your life to me, and yet you
leave me without a word of thanks." The Fox replied: "Indeed, I should
have thanked you most fervently, if your deeds had been as good as your
words."

The Kid and the Wolf.

A Kid, mounted on a high rock, bestowed all manner of abuse upon a Wolf
on the ground below. The Wolf, looking up, replied: "Do not think, vain
creature, that you annoy me. I regard this ill language as coming not
from you, but from the place on which you stand."

The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox.

[Illustration]

A Lion and a Bear seized upon a kid at the s