67.

THE HUSBANDMAN AND HIS SON.

A certain husbandman, lying at the point of death, and being desirous that his son should pursue the same occupation in which he had himself been engaged all his life, made use of this expedient to induce him to enter upon it with industry and perseverance. While the boy knelt at his father's bedside with his other children, the latter addressed him thus:-"All the patrimony, my son, which I have to leave you is my farm and vineyard, of which I make you my sole heir. But, I charge you not to let it go out of your own hands, for if I have any treasure besides, it is buried somewhere in the ground, within a foot of the surface." This made the son conclude that he talked of money which he had hidden there; so after his father's death, with unwearied diligence and application, he carefully dug up every inch both of the farm and the vineyard. From which it came to pass that though he found not the treasure which he expected, the ground by being so well stirred and loosened, produced so plentiful a crop of all that was sown in it, as proved a real and no inconsiderable treasure.-We see from this that industry is itself a treasure.

68.

THE SULTAN AND HIS VIZIER.

We are told that the Sultan Mahmoud, by his perpetual wars abroad, and his tyranny at home, had filled his dominions with ruin and desolation, and half unpeopled the Persian empire. The vizier to this great sultan (whether a humourist or an enthusiast we are not informed) pretended to have learned of a certain dervise to understand the language of birds, so that there was not a bird that could open his mouth, but the vizier knew what it was he said. As he was one evening with the emperor, on their return from hunting, they saw a couple of owls upon a tree that grew near an old wall. "I would fain know," says the sultan, "what those two owls are saying to one another-listen to their discourse, and give me an account of it." The vizier approached the tree, pretending to be very

attentive to the two owls. Upon his return to the sultan, "Sir," says he, "I have heard part of their conversation, but dare not tell you what it is." The sultan would not be satisfied with such an answer, but forced him to repeat, word for word, every thing the owls had said. "You must know, then," said the vizier," that one of these owls has a son, and the other a daughter, between whom they are now upon a treaty of marriage. The father of the son said to the father of the daughter, in my hearing, Brother, I consent to this marriage, provided you will settle upon your daughter fifty ruined villages for her portion.' To which the father of the daughter replied, 'instead of fifty, I will give her five hundred, if you please. God grant a long life to Sultan Mahmoud; while he reigns over us we shall never want ruined villages.'' The story says, the sultan was so touched with the fable, that he rebuilt the towns and villages which had been destroyed, and from that time forward consulted the good of his people.

69.

MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN.

A woodman was cutting down a tree on the bank of a river, and by chance let his hatchet fall, which dropped into the water, and immediately sunk. Being, therefore, in great distress for the loss of it, he sat down and bitterly bemoaned himself. Upon this, Mercury appeared to him, and hearing the cause of his grief, dived to the bottom of the river, and coming up again, showed the man a golden hatchet, demanding if that were his. He said it was not. Upon which Mercury dived a second time, and brought up a silver one. The man refused it also. He dived a third time, and fetched up the very hatchet which was lost: upon sight of which, the poor man was overjoyed, and took it with all humility and thankfulness. Mercury was so pleased with the fellow's honesty, that he presented him with the other two, as a reward for his just dealing. The man having told his companions what had happened, one of them went presently to the river's side, and let his hatchet fall designedly into the stream. Then sitting down upon the bank he began weeping and lamenting, as if he had

been really and sorely afflicted. Mercury appeared as before, and diving, brought him up a golden hatchet, asking if that was the hatchet he had lost. Transported at the precious metal, he answered, "Yes?" and greedily held out his hand to snatch it. But the god detesting his impudence and dishonesty, not only refused to give him that, but would not so much as let him have his own hatchet again.-Honesty is the best policy.

70.

THE WASPS AND THE BEES.

A swarm of wasps having laid claim to some honeycombs, which had been deposited in the trunk of an old tree by some bees, the owners protested against their demand; and the disputants having agreed to abide by the decision of a third party, the cause was referred to a hornet, who then proceeded to make the proper inquiries. Witnesses being examined, they deposed, that certain winged creatures, who had a loud hum, and were of a yellowish hue, were observed for a considerable time to be hovering about the place where this nest was found. It was held, however, that this did not sufficiently decide the question; for these characteristics, the hornet observed, agreed no less with the bees than with the wasps. At length a wise old bee proposed to settle the matter in dispute in this way. "Let a place," said he, "be appointed by the court for the complainants and the defendants to work in, and it will soon be apparent which of them are capable of forming these cells, and afterwards filling them with honey. The wasps refusing to agree to this proposal, convinced the judge on which side the right lay; and he, consequently, decreed that the bees were justly entitled to the possession of the honeycombs.

71.

THE TENTYRITES AND THE ICHNEUMON.

A crocodile, of great size and fierceness, infested the banks of the Nile, and spread desolation through the whole country. He seized the shepherd, together with the sheep, and devoured

the herdsman as well as the cattle. Emboldened by success, and the terror which prevailed wherever he appeared, he ventured to carry his incursions into the island of Tentyra, and to brave the people, who boast themselves the only tamers of his race. The Tentyrites themselves were struck with horror at the appearance of a monster so much more terrible than they had ever seen before; the boldest of them dared not to attack him openly; and the most experienced endeavoured in vain to surprise him. As they were consulting together what they should do in these circumstances, an ichneumon stepped forth, and thus addressed them: I perceive your distress, and though I cannot assist you in this difficulty, yet I can offer you some advice that may be of use to you afterwards. A little prudence is worth all your courage: it may be glorious to overcome a great evil, but the wisest way is to prevent it. You despise the crocodile while he is small and weak; and do not sufficiently consider, that as he is a long lived animal, so it is his property to grow as long as he lives. You see I am a little, feeble creature; yet am I much more terrible to the crocodile, and more useful to the country, than you are. I attack him in the egg; and, while you are contriving, for months together, how you may get the better of one crocodile, and all to no purpose, I effectually destroy fifty of them in a day.

This story is intended to shew the danger of suffering evil habits to gain head, so as to become too strong to be rooted out.

72.

THE CAT, THE COCK, AND THE YOUNG MOUSE.

A young mouse, that had seen very little of the world, came running one day to his mother in great haste: "Oh! mother," said he, "I am almost frightened to death! I have seen the most extraordinary creature that ever was. He has a fierce look, and struts about upon two legs, a strange piece of flesh grows on his head, and another under his throat, as red as blood: he flapped his arms against his sides, as if he intended to rise into the air; and stretching out his head, he opened a sharp pointed mouth so wide, that I thought he was preparing to swallow me up: then he roared at me so horribly, that I

trembled at every joint, and was glad to run home as fast as I could. If I had not been frightened away by this monster, I was just going to commence an acquaintance with the prettiest creature you ever saw. She had a soft fur skin, thicker than ours, and beautifully streaked with black and grey; with so modest a look, and so courteous a demeanour, that I thought I could have fallen in love with her. Then she had a fine long tail, which she waved about so prettily, and she looked so earnestly at me, that I do believe she was just going to speak to me, when the monster frightened me away."-" Ah, child!" said the mother, "you have indeed escaped being devoured, but not by the creature you were afraid of; which, in truth, was only a bird, and would have done you no harm. Whereas, the sweet-looking creature, of whom you seem so fond, was no other than a cat: who under that hypocritical countenance, conceals the most inveterate hatred to our race, and subsists entirely by devouring mice. Learn from this never to rely on outward appearances."

73.

THE OLD MAN AND HIS SONS.

Once upon a time an old man had several sons, who were often quarrelling with one another. When the father had exerted his authority, and used every means to reconcile them, but all to no purpose, he at last had recourse to the following plan:-He ordered his sons to be called before him, and a bundle of sticks to be brought; he then commanded them, one by one, to try if they could break it. They all tried, but to no purpose; for the sticks being closely and compactly bound up together, it was impossible for the force of man to do it. After this, the father ordered the bundle to be untied, and gave a single stick to each of his sons, at the same time bidding him try to break it; which, when each did with the greatest ease, the father addressed them to this effect: "Oh, my sons, behold the power of unity; for if you, in like manner, would but keep yourselves strictly united in the bands of friendship, it would not be in the power of any mortal to hurt you; but when once the ties of brotherly affection are dissolved, how soon you become exposed to the assaults of every enemy!