the owl
the owl always takes her sleep during the day. then after sundown, when the rosy light fades from the sky and the shadows rise slowly through the wood, out she comes ruffling and blinking from the old hollow tree. now her weird "hoo-hoo-hoo-oo-oo" echoes through the quiet wood, and she begins her hunt for the bugs and beetles, frogs and mice she likes so well to eat.
now there was a certain old owl who had become very cross and hard to please as she grew older, especially if anything disturbed her daily slumbers. one warm summer afternoon as she dozed away in her den in the old oak tree, a grasshopper nearby began a joyous but very raspy song. out popped the old owl's head from the opening in the tree that served her both for door and for window.
"get away from here, sir," she said to the grasshopper. "have you no manners? you should at least respect my age and leave me to sleep in quiet!"
but the grasshopper answered saucily that he had as much right to his place in the sun as the owl had to her place in the old oak. then he struck up a louder and still more rasping tune.
the wise old owl knew quite well that it would do no good to argue with the grasshopper, nor with anybody else for that matter. besides, her eyes were not sharp enough by day to permit her to punish the grasshopper as he deserved. so she laid aside all hard words and spoke very kindly to him.
the grasshopper
"well sir," she said, "if i must stay awake, i am going to settle right down to enjoy your singing. now that i think of it, i have a wonderful wine here, sent me from olympus, of which i am told apollo drinks before he sings to the high gods. please come up and taste this delicious drink with me. i know it will make you sing like apollo himself."
the foolish grasshopper was taken in by the owl's flattering words. up he jumped to the owl's den, but as soon as he was near enough so the old owl could see him clearly, she pounced upon him and ate him up.
flattery is not a proof of true admiration.
do not let flattery throw you off your guard against an enemy.
a wolf left his lair one evening in fine spirits and an excellent appetite. as he ran, the setting sun cast his shadow far out on the ground, and it looked as if the wolf were a hundred times bigger than he really was.
"why," exclaimed the wolf proudly, "see how big i am! fancy me running away from a puny lion! i'll show him who is fit to be king, he or i."
just then an immense shadow blotted him out entirely, and the next instant a lion struck him down with a single blow.
do not let your fancy make you forget realities.
a giant oak stood near a brook in which grew some slender reeds. when the wind blew, the great oak stood proudly upright with its hundred arms uplifted to the sky. but the reeds bowed low in the wind and sang a sad and mournful song.
"you have reason to complain," said the oak. "the slightest breeze that ruffles the surface of the water makes you bow your heads, while i, the mighty oak, stand upright and firm before the howling tempest."
"do not worry about us," replied the reeds. "the winds do not harm us. we bow before them and so we do not break. you, in all your pride and strength, have so far resisted their blows. but the end is coming."
as the reeds spoke a great hurricane rushed out of the north. the oak stood proudly and fought against the storm, while the yielding reeds bowed low. the wind redoubled in fury, and all at once the great tree fell, torn up by the roots, and lay among the pitying reeds.
better to yield when it is folly to resist, than to resist stubbornly and be destroyed.
