a lion had grown very old. his teeth were worn away. his limbs could no longer bear him, and the king of beasts was very pitiful indeed as he lay gasping on the ground, about to die.
where now his strength and his former graceful beauty?
now a boar spied him, and rushing at him, gored him with his yellow tusk. a bull trampled him with his heavy hoofs. even a contemptible ass let fly his heels and brayed his insults in the face of the lion.
it is cowardly to attack the defenseless, though he be an enemy.
one moonlight evening as master fox was taking his usual stroll in the woods, he saw a number of pheasants perched quite out of his reach on a limb of a tall old tree. the sly fox soon found a bright patch of moonlight, where the pheasants could see him clearly; there he raised himself up on his hind legs, and began a wild dance. first he whirled 'round and 'round like a top, then he hopped up and down, cutting all sorts of strange capers. the pheasants stared giddily. they hardly dared blink for fear of losing him out of their sight a single instant.
now the fox made as if to climb a tree, now he fell over and lay still, playing dead, and the next instant he was hopping on all fours, his back in the air, and his bushy tail shaking so that it seemed to throw out silver sparks in the moonlight.
by this time the poor birds' heads were in a whirl. and when the fox began his performance all over again, so dazed did they become, that they lost their hold on the limb, and fell down one by one to the fox.
too much attention to danger may cause us to fall victims to it.
two men were traveling in company through a forest, when, all at once, a huge bear crashed out of the brush near them.
one of the men, thinking of his own safety, climbed a tree.
the other, unable to fight the savage beast alone, threw himself on the ground and lay still, as if he were dead. he had heard that a bear will not touch a dead body.
it must have been true, for the bear snuffed at the man's head awhile, and then, seeming to be satisfied that he was dead, walked away.
the man in the tree climbed down.
"it looked just as if that bear whispered in your ear," he said. "what did he tell you?"
"he said," answered the other, "that it was not at all wise to keep company with a fellow who would desert his friend in a moment of danger."
misfortune is the test of true friendship.
