eature is, and I will stand
by what he shall say." To this the others agreed, and the
Brahmin called out, "O stranger, what dost thou call this
beast?" "Surely, O Brahmin," said the knave, "it is a fine
sheep." Then the Brahmin said, "Surely the gods have taken away
my senses"; and he asked pardon of him who carried the dog, and
bought it for a measure of rice and a pot of ghee, and offered
it up to the gods, who, being wroth at this unclean sacrifice,
smote him with a sore disease in all his joints.

Thus, or nearly thus, if we remember rightly, runs the story of
the Sanscrit AEsop. The moral, like the moral of every fable that
is worth the telling, lies on the surface. The writer evidently
means to caution us against the practices of puffers, a class of
people who have more than once talked the public into the most
absurd errors, but who surely never played a more curious or a
more difficult trick than when they passed Mr. Robert Montgomery
off upon the world as a great poet.--THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY,
_Essay on Mr. Robert Montgomery's Poems_.

III. Topics for Discussion

1. The Fable, which is here illustrated, is a simple story told to
point a moral or to make clear a complicated situation. AEsop and
George Ade are perhaps the most interesting authors of
fables--at least to twentieth-century Americans. An entertaining
program may be arranged by assigning each member of the class a
fable of one of these writers for oral reporting. The model
illustrates well the value of the fable form in newspaper
exposition.

2. Note the paragraph structure: (1) Introduction; (2) "Four W's,"
or Situation 1; (3) Climax, or Situation 2; (4) Denouement,
Result, or Situation 3; (5) Moral, or Point.

3. Define and discuss the etymology of "antiquity," "apologue,"
"apology," "edition," "fable," "impostor," "accomplice,"
"confederate," "knave," "ghee," "caution," "puffers."

4. What proportion of Macaulay's words in Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4
are monosyllables and dissyllables? Does he here use more or
fewer big words in proportion than in Paragraphs 1 and 5? What
is the effect on his style?

5. What proportion of his sentences are simple? Compound? Complex?

6. Topics for reports or speeches: Mr. Robert Montgomery; Pilpay;
The Brahmins; AEsop; Sanscrit.

7. Explain the allusion in the phrase, "t