foolish Ass tumbled head over heels
down the mountain side.

_They who will not listen to reason but stubbornly go their own
way against the friendly advice of those who are wiser than they,
are on the road to misfortune._

THE OXEN AND THE WHEELS

A pair of Oxen were drawing a heavily loaded wagon along a miry
country road. They had to use all their strength to pull the
wagon, but they did not complain.

The Wheels of the wagon were of a different sort. Though the task
they had to do was very light compared with that of the Oxen,
they creaked and groaned at every turn. The poor Oxen, pulling
with all their might to draw the wagon through the deep mud, had
their ears filled with the loud complaining of the Wheels. And
this, you may well know, made their work so much the harder to
endure.

"Silence!" the Oxen cried at last, out of patience. "What have
you Wheels to complain about so loudly? We are drawing all the
weight, not you, and we are keeping still about it besides."

_They complain most who suffer least._

[Illustration]

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his
paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her
fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Roused
from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny
creature to kill her.

"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and some day
I will surely repay you."

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help
him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion
was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free
himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse
knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net.
Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it
until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

"You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now
you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion."

_A kindness is never wasted._

[Illustration]

THE SHEPHERD BOY AND THE WOLF

A Shepherd Boy tended his master's Sheep near a dark forest not
far from the village. Soon he found life in the pasture very
dull. All he could do to amuse himself was to talk to his dog or
play on his shepherd's pipe.

One day as he sat watching the Sheep and the quiet forest, and
thinking what he wo