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THE GOURD AND THE PINE.

A Gourd was planted close beside a large, well-spread Pine. The season was kindly, and the Gourd shot itself up in a short time, climbing by the boughs and twining about them, till it topped and covered the tree itself. The leaves were large, and the flowers and fruit fair, insomuch that the Gourd, comparing itself with the Pine, had the assurance to value itself above it.

"Why," said the Gourd, "you have been more years growing to this stature than I have been days."

"Well," replied the Pine, "but after the many winters and summers that I have endured, the many blasting colds and parching heats, you see me the very same thing that I was so long ago. But when you once come to the proof, the first blight or frost shall bring down that pride of yours, and strip you of all your glory."

Time tests merit.

THE GOAT AND THE LION.

The Lion seeing a Goat skipping about in high glee upon a steep craggy rock, called to him to come down upon the green pasture where he would be able to feed in much greater comfort.

The Goat, who saw through the design of the Lion, replied, "Many thanks for your advice, dear Lion, but I wonder whether you are thinking more of my comfort, or how you would relish a nice morsel of Goat's flesh."

Interested advice is dangerous.

THE TONGUES.

XANTHUS invited a large company to dinner, and Æsop was ordered to furnish the feast with the choicest dainties that money could procure. The first course consisted of Tongues, cooked in different ways, and served with appropriate sauces. This gave rise to a deal of mirth and witty remarks among the assembled guests. The second course, however, like the first, was also nothing but Tongues, and so the third, and the fourth.

The matter seemed to all to have gone beyond a jest, and Xanthus angrily demanded of Æsop, "Did I not tell you, sirrah, to provide the choicest dainties that money could procure?"

"And what excels the Tongue?" replied Æsop. "It is the great channel of learning and philosophy. By this noble organ addresses and eulogies are made, and commerce, contracts, and marriages completely established. Nothing is equal to the Tongue."

The company applauded Æsop's wit, and goodhumor was restored.

"Well," said Xanthus to the guests, "pray do me the favor of dining with me again to-morrow. And if this is your best," continued he, turning to Æsop, "pray, to-morrow let us have some of the worst meat you can find."

The next day, when dinner-time came. the guests were assembled. Great was their astonishment, and great the anger of Xanthus, at finding that again nothing but Tongues was put upon the table.

"How, sir," said Xanthus, "should Tongues be the best of meat one day and the worst another? "What," replied Esop, "can be worse than the Tongue? What wickedness is there under the sun that it has not a part in? Treasons, violence, injustice, and fraud are debated, resolved upon, and communicated by the Tongue. It is the ruin of empires, cities, and of private friendships."

The company were more than ever struck by Æsop's ingenuity, and successfully interceded for him with his master.

A wise answer saves a city.

THE WOLF, THE SHE-GOAT, AND THE KID.

A She-goat, leaving her house one morning to look for food, told her Kid to bolt the door, and

to open to no one who did not give as a pass-word, "A plague on the Wolf, and all his tribe."

A Wolf who was hanging about, unseen by the Goat, heard her words, and when she was gone, came and tapped at the door, and imitating her voice, said, "A plague on the Wolf, and all his tribe."

He made sure that the door would be opened at once; but the Kid, whose suspicions were aroused, replied: "Show your beard and I will let you in at once."

Double proof is surest.

THE WOMAN AND HER HEN.

A Woman had a Hen that laid an egg every day. The Fowl was of a superior breed, and the eggs were very fine, and sold for a good price. The Woman thought that by giving the Hen twice as much food as she had been in the habit of giving, the bird might be brought to lay two eggs a day instead of one. So the quantity of food was doubled. The Hen thereupon grew very fat, and stopped laying altogether.

Figures are not always facts.

THE FORTUNE-TELLER.

A Man who gave himself out as a Wizard and Fortune-teller, used to stand in the market-place and pretend to foretell the future, give information as to missing property, and other matters of the like kind. One day, while he was busily plying his trade, a waggish fellow broke through the crowd, and gasping as if for want of breath, told him that his house was in flames, and must shortly be burnt to the ground. Off ran the Wizard at the news as fast as his legs could carry him, while the Wag and a crowd of other people followed at his heels. But the house was not on fire at all; and the Wag asked him, amid the jeers of the people, how it was that he, who was so clever at telling other people's fortunes, should know so little of his own.

'Tis a poor baker who will not eat his own

wares.

THE BAT AND THE WEASELS.

A Weasel seized upon a Bat, who begged hard for her life.

"No, no," said the Weasel; "I give no quarter to Birds."

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