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A certain house was overrun with Mice. A Cat, discovering this, made her
way into it, and began to catch and eat them one by one. The Mice, being
continually devoured, kept themselves close in their holes. The Cat, no
longer able to get at them, perceived that she must tempt them forth by
some device. For this purpose she jumped upon a peg, and, suspending
herself from it, pretended to be dead. When the Mice came near she
pounced among them and killed a great number. Pleased with the success
of the trick, she tried another. She whitened herself with flour, and
lay still on the heap of bags, as though she was one of them. The young
Mice crept dangerously near her, but an old one peeping stealthily out
said: "Ah, my good madam, though you should turn into a real flour-bag,
I will not come too near you."

Avoid even appearances of danger.

The Father and his Sons.

A Father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among
themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations,
he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done
so, he placed the bundle into the hands of each of them in succession,
and ordered them to break it in pieces. They each tried with all their
strength, and were not able to do it. He next unclosed the faggot, and
took the sticks, separately, one by one, and again put them into their
hands, on which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these
words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other,
you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all attempts of your enemies;
but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily
as these sticks."

Disunited families are easily injured by others.

The Owl and the Grasshopper.

An Owl who was sitting in a hollow tree, dozing away a summer's
afternoon, was very much disturbed by a rogue of a Grasshopper singing
in the grass beneath. So far from keeping quiet, or moving away at the
request of the Owl, the Grasshopper sang all the more, and called her an
old blinker, that only came out at night when all honest people had gone
to bed. The Owl waited in silence for a time, and then artfully
addressed the Grasshopper as follows: "Well, my dear, if one cannot be
allowed to sleep, it is something to be kept awake by such a pleasant
voice. And now I think of it, I have a bottle of delicious nectar. If
you will come up, you shall have a