fterwards he saw
the Cocks fighting together, and not separating before one had well
beaten the other. He then said to himself: "I shall no longer distress
myself at being struck at by these Game-cocks, when I see that they
cannot even refrain from quarreling with each other."

Strangers should avoid those who quarrel among themselves.

The Boy and the Nettle.

A Boy was stung by a Nettle. He ran home and told his mother, saying:
"Although it pains me so much, I did but touch it ever so gently." "That
was just it," said his mother, "which caused it to sting you. The next
time you touch a Nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to
your hand, and not in the least hurt you."

Whatever you do, do with all your might.

The Trumpeter taken Prisoner.

[Illustration]

A Trumpeter, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy.
He cried out to his captors: "Pray spare me, and do not take my life
without cause or without injury. I have not slain a single man of your
troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet."
"That is the very reason for which you should be put to death," they
said, "for while you do not fight yourself, your loud trumpet stirs up
all the other soldiers to battle."

He who incites strife is as guilty as they who strive.

The Fatal Marriage.

The Lion, touched with gratitude by the noble procedure of a Mouse, and
resolving not to be outdone in generosity by any wild beast whatsoever,
desired his little deliverer to name his own terms, for that he might
depend upon his complying with any proposal he should make. The Mouse,
fired with ambition at this gracious offer, did not so much consider
what was proper for him to ask, as what was in the powers of his prince
to grant; and so demanded his princely daughter, the young lioness, in
marriage. The Lion consented; but, when he would have given the royal
virgin into his possession, she, like a giddy thing as she was, not
minding how she walked, by chance set her paw upon her spouse, who was
coming to meet her, and crushed him to pieces.

Beware of unequal matches. Alliances prompted by ambition often prove
fatal.

The Ass and the Charger.

[Illustration]

An Ass congratulated a Horse on being so ungrudgingly and carefully
provided for, while he himself had scarcely enough to eat, nor even that
without hard work. But when war broke out, the heavy armed soldier
mounted th