a little better if only I had something to
hold myself by? Do you mind if I take a piece of grass and put it in
your mouth? I can hold on to that when I shake about and my sore spots
will not hurt so much."

The lamb let the toad put a piece of grass in his mouth.

After a while the toad asked for a little stick. "The flies and
mosquitoes annoy me terribly," he said. "If only I had a little stick
I could wave it about over my head and frighten them away. It is very
bad for any one in my weak, nervous condition to be bothered by flies
and mosquitoes." The lamb let the toad have a little stick to wave
over his head.

At last the lamb and the toad drew near to the palace of the king. The
king's daughter was leaning out of the window watching for them. The
toad dug his feet into the lamb's sides, pulled hard on the piece of
the grass in the lamb's mouth and waved the little stick about over
the lamb's head. "Go on, horse," he said and the king's daughter heard
him. She laughed and laughed, and when all the rest of the people in
the palace saw the toad arriving mounted on the lamb's back and
driving him like a horse they laughed too. The lamb went meekly home
to his pasture and from that day to this when one wishes to speak of
meekness one says "as meek as a lamb."

VI

Why the Tiger and the Stag

Fear Each Other

Once upon a time there was a large handsome stag with great branching
horns. One day he said to himself, "I am tired of having no home of my
own, and of just living anywhere. I shall build me a house." He
searched on every hill, in every valley, by every stream, and under
all the trees for a suitable place. At last he found one that was just
right. It was not too high, nor too low, not too near a stream and not
too far away from one, not under too thick trees and not away from the
trees out under the hot sun. "I am going to build my house here," he
said, and he began to clear a place for it at once. He worked all day
and did not go away until night.

Now in that same country there lived a large handsome tiger, with
sharp, sharp teeth and bright, cruel eyes. One day the tiger said to
himself, "I am tired of having no home of my own,--of just living
around anywhere! I shall build me a house." Accordingly the tiger
searched for a place to build his house. He searched on every hill, in
every valley, by every stream, and under all the trees. At last he
found a place which was just right. It was not t