s.

"I've learned that all round things are not eggs," he said
groaning.

_Act in haste and repent at leisure--and often in pain._

THE ASTROLOGER

A man who lived a long time ago believed that he could read the
future in the stars. He called himself an Astrologer, and spent
his time at night gazing at the sky.

One evening he was walking along the open road outside the
village. His eyes were fixed on the stars. He thought he saw
there that the end of the world was at hand, when all at once,
down he went into a hole full of mud and water.

[Illustration]

There he stood up to his ears, in the muddy water, and madly
clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb
out.

His cries for help soon brought the villagers running. As they
pulled him out of the mud, one of them said:

"You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to
see what is at your feet! This may teach you to pay more
attention to what is right in front of you, and let the future
take care of itself."

"What use is it," said another, "to read the stars, when you
can't see what's right here on the earth?"

_Take care of the little things and the big things will take care
of themselves._

[Illustration]

THREE BULLOCKS AND A LION

A Lion had been watching three Bullocks feeding in an open field.
He had tried to attack them several times, but they had kept
together, and helped each other to drive him off. The Lion had
little hope of eating them, for he was no match for three strong
Bullocks with their sharp horns and hoofs. But he could not keep
away from that field, for it is hard to resist watching a good
meal, even when there is little chance of getting it.

Then one day the Bullocks had a quarrel, and when the hungry Lion
came to look at them and lick his chops as he was accustomed to
do, he found them in separate corners of the field, as far away
from one another as they could get.

It was now an easy matter for the Lion to attack them one at a
time, and this he proceeded to do with the greatest satisfaction
and relish.

_In unity is strength._

MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN

A poor Woodman was cutting down a tree near the edge of a deep
pool in the forest. It was late in the day and the Woodman was
tired. He had been working since sunrise and his strokes were not
so sure as they had been early that morning. Thus it happened
that the axe slipped and flew out of his hands into