reach. But the Swan sat still: he
was not learned in mischief, and he did not know what to do. Then the
pious man looked up into the tree, and saw the Swan sitting there, so of
course he thought it was the Swan who had dropped a piece of mud on his
head. He had a big catapult with him, so he put a stone in his catapult,
and slick! he shot the Swan.

Down fell the Swan with a great thud. He felt that his end was near, and
how sorry he was now that he had had anything to do with the bad Crow.
However, it was too late now to be sorry, so he began to sing. They say
that Swans never sing in all their life, but when they are about to die
they sing beautifully; and this is what the Swan sang to the pious
man:--

"I am no Crow, as you must know,
But a Swan that lived by a lovely lake;
With bad companions I would go,
And now I die for a bad friend's sake."

Then the Swan died, and the pious man finished
his prayers.

The Foolish Wolf

A WOLF and an Ass were great friends, and they spent most of their time
playing at an original game of their own. The game was easy enough to
learn; you could play it yourselves; and it was this. First the Ass used
to run away from the Wolf as hard as he could, and the Wolf used to
follow; and then the Wolf would run as hard as he could from the Ass,
and the Ass would follow.

One day, as the Wolf was running away full tilt from the Ass, a Boy saw
them.

"Ha, ha, ha," said the Boy, "what a coward that Wolf is, to run away
from an Ass." He thought, you see, that the Wolf was afraid of being
eaten by the Ass.

The Wolf heard him, and was very angry. He stopped short, and said to
the Boy--

"So you think I am a coward, little Boy? You shall rue the word. I'm
brave enough to eat you, as you shall find out this very night; for I
will come and carry you off from your home."

If the Wolf was no coward, at least he was a foolish Wolf to tell the
Boy if he meant to carry him off, as I think you will agree with me.

The Boy went home to tell his mother. "Mother," said he, "a Wolf is
coming to-night to carry me off."

"Oh, never mind if he does," said the Boy's mother, "he won't hurt you."

The Boy did not feel quite so sure about that, for he had seen sharp
teeth in the mouth of the Wolf. So he chose out a big and sharp stone,
and put it in his pocket. Why he did not hide, I can't tell you, for he
never told me; but m