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THE BODY AND ITS MEMBERS.

The Members of the Body once rebelled against him. They said he led an idle, lazy life at their expense. The Hands declared that they would not again lift a crust even to keep him from starving, the Mouth that it would not take in a bit more food, the Legs that they would carry him about no longer, and so on with the others.

The Body quietly allowed them to follow their own courses, well knowing that they would all soon come to their senses, as indeed they did, when, for want of the blood and nourishment supplied from the stomach, they found themselves fast becoming mere skin and bone.

No one can live to himself.

THE KITE AND THE PIGEONS.

A Kite, that had kept sailing around a dove-cote looking for a nice fat Pigeon for many days to no purpose, was forced by hunger to have recourse to stratagem. Approaching the Pigeons in his gentlest manner, he tried to show them how much better their state would be, if they had a king with some firmness about him, and how well his pro

tection would shield them from the attacks of the Hawk and other enemies.

The Pigeons, deluded by this show of reason, admitted him to the dove-cote as their king. They found, however, that he thought it part of his kingly prerogative to eat one of their number every day, and they soon repented of their credulity in having let him in.

"Ah!" they exclaimed in despair; 66 we deserve no better. Why did we heed the counsel of an enemy?"

Do not trust before you try.

THE BALD KNIGHT.

A Certain Knight, who wore a wig to conceal his baldness, was out hunting one day. A sudden gust of wind carried away his wig, and showed his bald pate. His friends all laughed heartily at the odd figure he made, but the old fellow, so far from being put out, laughed as heartily as any of them.

"Is it any wonder," said he, "that another man's hair shouldn't keep on my head when my own wouldn't stay there?"

Every event has its reason.

THE MAN AND THE LION.

A Man and a Lion once argued together as to which belonged to the nobler race. The Man called the attention of the Lion to a monument on which was sculptured a Man striding over a fallen Lion.

"That proves nothing at all," said the Lion; "if a Lion had been the carver, he would have made the Lion striding over the Man."

Men are but sorry witnesses in their own cause.

THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE.

A Villager, one frosty day in the depth of winter, found a Snake under a hedge almost dead with the cold. Having pity on the poor creature, he brought it home, and laid it on the hearth near the fire. Revived by the heat, it reared itself up, and with dreadful hissings flew at the wife and children of its benefactor. The Man, hearing their cries, rushed in, and, seizing a mattock, soon cut the Snake in pieces.

"Vile wretch!" said he; "is this the reward you make to him who saved your life? Die, as you deserve; but a single death is too good for you."

Ingratitude is a crime.

THE MAN AND HIS TWO WIVES.

In a country where Men could have more than one Wife, a certain Man, whose head was fast becoming white, had two, one a little older than himself, and one much younger. The young Wife, being of a gay and lively turn, did not want people to think that she had an old man for a husband, and so used to pull out as many of his white hairs as she could. The old Wife, on the other hand, did not wish to seem older than her husband, and so used to pull out the black hairs. This went on, until between them both, they made the poor Man quite bald.

No man can belong to two parties at once.

THE FROGS AND THE FIGHTING
BULLS.

A Frog one day, peeping out of a marsh, saw two Bulls fighting at some distance off in the meadow. "Alas! my friends," cried he to his fellow Frogs, whatever will become of us?"

"Why, what are you frightened at?" asked one of the Frogs; "what can their quarrels have to do with us? They are only proving which shall be master of the herd."

"True," answered the first, "and it is just that which causes my fear, for the one that is beaten will take refuge here in the marshes, and will tread us to death."

And so it happened; and many a Frog, in dying, had sore proof that the fears which he had thought to be groundless were not so in fact.

Coming events cast their shadows before.

THE WIND AND THE SUN.

A Dispute once arose between the North Wind and the Sun as to which was the stronger of the two. Seeing a Traveller on his way, they agreed to try which could the sooner get his cloak off him. The North Wind began, and sent a furious blast, which, at the onset, nearly tore the cloak from its fastenings; but the Traveller, seizing the garment with a firm grip, held it round his body so tightly that Boreas spent his remaining force in vain.

The Sun, dispelling the clouds that had gathered, then darted his genial beams on the Traveller's head. Growing faint with the heat, the Man flung off his coat, and ran for protection to the nearest shade.

Mildness governs more than anger.

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