h all his
properties, came upon a Mask, an admirable imitation of a human head. He
placed his paws on it, and said: "What a beautiful head! yet it is of
no value, as it entirely wants brains."

[Illustration]

A fair face is of little use without sense.

The Bear and the Fox.

A bear boasted very much of his philanthropy, saying "that of all
animals he was the most tender in his regard for man, for he had such
respect for him, that he would not even touch his dead body." A Fox
hearing these words said with a smile to the Bear: "Oh, that you would
eat the dead and not the living!"

We should not wait till a person is dead, to give him our respect.

The Wolf and the Lamb.

[Illustration]

A Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay
violent hands on him, but to find some plea, which should justify to the
Lamb himself his right to eat him. He then addressed him: "Sirrah, last
year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful
tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf: "You feed in
my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted
grass." Again said the Wolf: "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the
Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food
and drink to me." On which the Wolf seized him, and ate him up, saying:
"Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my
imputations."

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny, and it is useless
for the innocent to try by reasoning to get justice, when the oppressor
intends to be unjust.

[Illustration]

The One-Eyed Doe.

[Illustration]

A Doe, blind of an eye, was accustomed to graze as near to the edge of
the sea as she possibly could, to secure greater safety. She turned her
eye towards the land, that she might perceive the approach of a hunter
or hound, and her injured eye towards the sea, from which she
entertained no anticipation of danger. Some boatmen, sailing by, saw
her, and, taking a successful aim, mortally wounded her. Said she: "O
wretched creature that I am! to take such precaution against the land,
and, after all, to find this seashore, to which I had come for safety,
so much more perilous."

Danger sometimes comes from a source that is least suspected.

The Dog, Cock and Fox.

A Dog and a Cock, traveling together, took shelter at night in a thick
wood. The Cock perc