e drew most of his
stories from AEsop and other sources. While he
dressed the old fables in the brilliant style
of his own day, he still succeeded in being
essentially simple and direct. A few of his 240
fables may be used to good effect with
children, though they have their main charm for
the more sophisticated older reader. (See Nos.
234, 241, and 242.) The best complete
translation is that made in 1841 by Elizur
Wright, an American scholar. The following
version is from his translation. Notice that La
Fontaine has changed the goose to a hen.

THE HEN WITH THE GOLDEN EGGS

LA FONTAINE

How avarice loseth all,
By striving all to gain,
I need no witness call
But him whose thrifty hen,
As by the fable we are told,
Laid every day an egg of gold.
"She hath a treasure in her body,"
Bethinks the avaricious noddy.
He kills and opens--vexed to find
All things like hens of common kind.
Thus spoil'd the source of all his riches,
To misers he a lesson teaches.
In these last changes of the moon,
How often doth one see
Men made as poor as he
By force of getting rich too soon!

218

THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

A Wolf wrapped himself in the skin of a Sheep and by that means got
admission into a sheep-fold, where he devoured several of the young
Lambs. The Shepherd, however, soon found him out and hung him up to a
tree, still in his disguise.

Some other Shepherds, passing that way, thought it was a Sheep hanging,
and cried to their friend, "What, brother! is that the way you serve
Sheep in this part of the country?"

"No, friends," cried he, turning the hanging body around so that they
might see what it was; "but it is the way to serve Wolves, even though
they be dressed in Sheep's clothing."

_The credit got by a lie lasts only till the truth comes out._

219

THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

The Hare one day laughed at the Tortoise for his short feet, slowness,
and awkwardness.

"Though you may be swift as the wind," replied the Tortoise
good-naturedly, "I can beat you in a race."

The Hare looked on the challenge as a great joke, but consented to a
trial of speed, and the Fox was selected to act as umpire and hold the
stakes.

The rivals started, and th