Pagina 88 van 274

One hot and thirsty day in the height of summer a Lion and a Boar

came down to a little spring at the same moment to drink. In a

trice they were quarrelling as to who should drink first. The

quarrel soon became a fight and they attacked one another with

the utmost fury. Presently, stopping for a moment to take breath,

they saw some vultures seated on a rock above evidently waiting

for one of them to be killed, when they would fly down and feed

upon the carcase. The sight sobered them at once, and they made

up their quarrel, saying, "We had much better be friends than

fight and be eaten by vultures."

THE WALNUT-TREE

A Walnut-tree, which grew by the roadside, bore every year a

plentiful crop of nuts. Every one who passed by pelted its

branches with sticks and stones, in order to bring down the

fruit, and the tree suffered severely. "It is hard," it cried,

"that the very persons who enjoy my fruit should thus reward me

with insults and blows."

THE MAN AND THE LION