Chapter 29

Three Fishes lived in a pond. The first was wise, the second had a little sense, and the third was foolish. A fisherman saw the fish, and went home for his net in order that he might catch them.

"I must get out of this pond at once," said the Wise Fish. And he threw himself into a little channel that led to a river. The others did not trouble at all.

Presently the Fisherman returned with his net, and stopped up the channel leading to the river. The Second Fish wished he had followed the example of the Wise Fish; but he soon thought of a plan to escape. He floated upside down on the surface of the water, and the fisherman, thinking he was dead, did not trouble about him any more.

But the Foolish Fish was caught, and taken home to be eaten.

_We should all endeavor to be wise._

THE FALCON AND THE HEN

"How ungrateful you must be!" said a Falcon to a Hen. "You are fed with the best of food, you have a snug bed provided for you at night, you are protected from foxes, and yet, when the men who do all this for you want to take hold of you, you run away and do not return their caresses. Now, I do not receive anything like so many benefits, and yet I allow the men to hold me, and I serve them when they go hunting in the field."

"Ah!" said the Hen. "What you say is true. But, remember, you never see a hawk roasting in front of the fire, whereas you see hundreds of good fat hens treated in that way."

_Circumstances alter cases._

THE KING WHO GREW KIND

A cruel King was riding out one day, when he saw a fox attack a hen. But just then a dog ran after the fox and bit his leg. The fox, however, lame as he was, managed to escape into his hole, and the dog ran off. A man who saw him threw a stone at the dog, and cracked his head; but at this moment a horse passing by ran against the man and trod on his foot. A minute later the horse's foot stepped upon a stone, and his ankle was broken.

"Ah," said the King. "This will be a lesson to me. I see that misfortunes always overtake those who ill-use others."

And from that time the King became a kind and wise ruler of his people.

_Punishment sooner or later overtakes those who wrong others._

THE HORSES' COUNCIL

ADAPTED FROM JOHN GAY

Once upon a time, a restless, dissatisfied horse persuaded all the other horses on the farm that they were oppressed by the man who owned them, and that they should rebel against him.

So a meeting was called to which all the horses came, to argue the matter and see what should be done. One wanted one thing, one another, and at the last a young colt, who had not yet been trained sprang to the front with tossing mane, and proud, arched neck, and eyes of fire, and thus addressed the listening throng of horses:

"What slaves we are! How low has fallen our race! Because our fathers lived in their service, must we too toil? Shall we submit ourselves to man, and spend our youth in servile tasks; with straining sinews drag the ploughshare through the heavy soil, or draw the carrier's heavy load in winter cold or beneath the sun of summer? See how strong we are, how weak man is! Shall we subdue our strength, and champ a bit, and serve his pride? Not so. Away with bit and bridle, rein and spur! We shall be free as air!"

He ceased, and with a step of conscious pride regained his place among the crowd, from which came snickers of applause and neighs of praise.

Then from behind the crowd, with slow and stately movements, came an aged steed. He faced the turbulent crew, and with firm accents that compelled their silence, he began to speak:

"When I was young as you," he said, "I too cried out for freedom from the daily toil that was my task. I soon had better thoughts. Man toils for us. For us he braves the summer heat, to store our food. If we lend him our strength to plough the land, he sows and reaps the grain, that we may share it, as we share the toil. _Through all the world's history it has been decreed each one must in some way aid the other's need._"

He ceased, and left the place, and by his words the council quietly dispersed.

THE OAK AND THE REED

ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH OF LA FONTAINE

One day the Oak said to the Reed: "Nature has been indeed unkind to you. She has made you so weak that even the tiniest bird that flies bends you to earth beneath her little weight. The gentlest breeze that scarcely moves the surface of the lake has power to bend your head.

"My head, which rises like a mountain, is not content to stop the blazing rays of sunshine, but braves even the tempest; the wind that to you seems to be a hurricane, to me is but a gentle sigh of wind at eventide.

"If you had grown beneath the shelter of my leafy crown, with which I cover all the ground around, I would have saved you from the storms which make you suffer. Alas, you are most often found along the marshy borders of the kingdom of the winds. Nature, it seems to me, has been to you unjust."

"Your pity," said the Reed, "comes from good nature, but have no care for me. The winds for me hold far less danger than they hold for you. I bend but do not break. You have till now resisted all their powerful blows and never bent your back. But wait the end."

Just as the gentle little Reed ended these words, a great north wind rushed down from the horizon and flung itself on them with fury. The Reed bent low before it, but the tree defied the anger of the blast and held its head upright. But the strong wind drew back, doubled its force, and with a furious rush tore up the oak tree by its mighty roots.

The blast passed on and in the quiet that it left behind, the Reed raised up her head, and looking sadly at the giant tree whose stately head lay in the waters of the stream, she sadly said:

"_It is often well to bend before the storms that threaten us._"

THE ADVANTAGE OF KNOWLEDGE

ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH OF LA FONTAINE

Two citizens lived beside each other in a town in France. The one was rich and had a fine house, and a garden, horses, and carriages, and servants to wait on him. But he was stupid, for when he was a boy at school he learned nothing. The other man was poor in gold and silver, but he was rich in knowledge, and full of wisdom, and he knew all the beauty and the glory of the world.

These two held constant arguments. The rich man said that nothing in the world should be held in honor but riches, and that the wise and learned should bow to him because of all his wealth.

"My friend," he often said, "what use is it to read so many books? They do not bring you money! You have a small house, you wear the same coat in the winter that you do in summer."

The wise man could not always answer back, he had too much to say, and often kept silence.

But a war broke out. All the town, in which the two men lived, was broken down, and both men had to leave it to seek their fortune in another place. The rich man, who had lost his money, was now poor indeed, for he had nothing, and wandered through the world getting nothing but scorn for his ignorance. But the wise man was welcomed everywhere, and received with honor because of all the wisdom and the knowledge that he brought with him.

_Knowledge is power._

THE TORRENT AND THE RIVER

ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH OF LA FONTAINE

With great noise and much tumult a torrent fell down the mountain side. All fled before it; horror followed it; it made the country round it tremble.

Only one traveler, who was flying from robbers that were following after him, dared to cross the stream, and put it as a barrier between him and the men who were pursuing him. This gave him confidence although the robbers still followed. So when he reached the edge of a broad river, that seemed to him to be an image of sleep, it looked so soft and peaceable and quiet, he rode his horse into the water to cross it. It had no high banks, but a little beach sloped from the meadow down to meet the water, which looked so peaceful that it seemed as if a little child might cross it, to gather flowers on the other side, and so the traveler thought it held no danger for him.

But the quiet river was very deep, and though it made no noise, its current ran so strongly that it lifted both the horse and rider on its waves and carried them away, and drowned them.

_Quiet people are stronger than the noisy._

THE TOMTIT AND THE BEAR

BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM

One summer day, as a Wolf and a Bear were walking together in a wood, they heard a bird singing most sweetly. "Brother," said the Bear, "what can that bird be that is singing so sweetly?"

"Oh!" said the Wolf, "that is the king of the birds, we must take care to show him all respect." (Now I should tell you that this bird was after all no other than the Tomtit.)

"If that is the case," said the Bear, "I should like to see the royal palace; so pray come along and show me it."

"Gently, my friend," said the Wolf, "we cannot see it just yet, we must wait till the queen comes home."

Soon afterward the queen came with food in her beak, and she and the king began to feed their young ones.

"Now for it!" said the Bear; and was about to follow them.

"Stop a little, Master Bruin," said the Wolf, "we must wait now till the king and queen are gone again." So they marked the hole where they had seen the nest, and went away. But the Bear, being very eager to see the palace, soon came back again, and, peeping into the nest, saw five or six young birds lying at the bottom of it.

"What nonsense!" said Bruin, "this is not a royal palace: I never saw such a filthy place in my life; and you are no royal children, you little base-born brats!"

As soon as the young tomtits heard this they were very angry, and screamed out: "We are not base-born, you stupid bear! Our father and mother are honest, good sort of people; and, depend upon it, you shall suffer for your rudeness!"

At this the Wolf and the Bear grew frightened, and ran away to their dens. But the young tomtits kept crying and screaming; and when their father and mother came home and offered them food, they all said: "We will not touch a bit; no, not though we should die of hunger, till that rascal Bruin has been punished for calling us base-born brats."

"Make yourselves easy, my darlings," said the old king, "you may be sure he shall get what he deserves."

So he went out to the Bear's den, and cried out with a loud voice, "Bruin, the bear! thou hast been very rude to our lawful children. We shall therefore make war against thee and thine, and shall never cease until thou hast been punished as thou so richly deservest."

Now when the bear heard this, he called together the ox, the ass, the stag, the fox, and all the beasts of the earth. And the Tomtit also called on his side all the birds of the air, both great and small, and a very large army of wasps, gnats, bees, and flies, and indeed many other kinds of insects.

As the time came near when the war was to begin, the Tomtit sent out spies to see who was the leader of the enemy's forces. So the gnat, who was by far the best spy of them all, flew backward and forward in the wood where the enemy's troops were, and at last hid himself under a leaf on a tree close by.

The Bear, who was standing so near the tree that the gnat could hear all he said, called to the fox and said, "Reynard, you are the cleverest of all the beasts; therefore you shall be our leader and go before us to battle; but we must first agree upon some signal, by which we may know what you want us to do."

"Behold," said the fox, "I have a fine long, bushy tail, which is very like a plume of red feathers, and gives me a very warlike air. Now remember, when you see me raise up my tail, you may be sure that the battle is won, and you have then nothing to do but to rush down upon the enemy with all your force. On the other hand, if I drop my tail, the battle is lost, and you must run away as fast as you can."

Now when the gnat had heard all this, she flew back to the Tomtit and told him everything that had passed.

At length the day came when the battle was to be fought. As soon as it was light, the army of beasts came rushing forward with such a fearful sound that the earth shook. King Tomtit, with his troops, came flying along also in warlike array, flapping and fluttering, and beating the air, so that it was quite frightful to hear; and both armies set themselves in order of battle upon the field.

Now the Tomtit gave orders to a troop of wasps that at the first onset they should march straight toward Captain Reynard and fixing themselves about his tail, should sting him with all their might. The wasps did as they were told; and when Reynard felt the first sting, he started aside and shook one of his legs, but still held up his tail with wonderful bravery. At the second sting he was forced to drop his tail for a moment; but when the third wasp had fixed itself, he could bear it no longer, and clapped his tail between his legs, and ran away as fast as he could.

As soon as the beasts saw this, they thought of course all was lost, and raced across the country away to their holes.

Then the king and queen of the birds flew back in joy to their children, and said: "Now, children, eat, drink, and be merry, for we have won the battle!"

But the young birds said: "No; not till Bruin has humbly begged our pardon for calling us base-born."

So the king flew back to the bear's den, and cried out:

"Thou villain bear! come forthwith to my nest, and humbly ask my children to forgive the insult thou hast offered them. If thou wilt not do this, every bone in thy body shall be broken."

Then the bear was forced to crawl out of his den very sulkily, and do what the king bade him; and after that the young birds sat down together, and ate, and drank, and made merry till midnight.

WHY JIMMY SKUNK WEARS STRIPES[K]

BY THORNTON W. BURGESS

Jimmy Skunk, as everybody knows, wears a striped suit, a suit of black and white. There was a time, long, long ago, when all the Skunk family wore black. Very handsome their coats were, too, a beautiful glossy black. They were very, very proud of them, and took the greatest care of them, brushing them carefully ever so many times a day.

There was a Jimmy Skunk then, just as there is now, and he was head of all the Skunk family. Now, this Jimmy Skunk was very proud, and thought himself very much of a gentleman. He was very independent, and cared for no one. Like a great many other independent people, he did not always consider the rights of others. Indeed, it was hinted in the wood and on the Green Meadows that not all of Jimmy Skunk's doings would bear the light of day. It was openly said that he was altogether too fond of prowling about at night, but no one could prove that he was responsible for mischief done in the night, for no one saw him. You see his coat was so black that in the darkness of the night it was not visible at all.

Now, about this time of which I am telling you, Mrs. Ruffed Grouse made a nest at the foot of the Great Pine, and in it she laid fifteen beautiful buff eggs. Mrs. Grouse was very happy, very happy indeed, and all the little meadow folks who knew of her happiness were happy, too, for they all loved shy, demure, little Mrs. Grouse. Every morning when Peter Rabbit trotted down the Lone Little Path through the wood past the Great Pine he would stop for a few minutes to chat with Mrs. Grouse. Happy Jack Squirrel would bring her the news every afternoon. The Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind would run up a dozen times a day to see how she was getting along.

One morning Peter Rabbit, coming down the Lone Little Path for his usual morning call, found a terrible state of affairs. Poor little Mrs. Grouse was heartbroken. All about the foot of the Great Pine lay the empty shells of their beautiful eggs. They had been broken and scattered this way and that.

"How did it happen?" asked Peter Rabbit.

"I don't know," sobbed poor little Mrs. Grouse. "In the night when I was fast asleep something pounced upon me. I managed to get away and fly up in the top of the Great Pine. In the morning I found all my eggs broken, just as you see them here."

Peter Rabbit looked the ground over very carefully. He hunted around behind the Great Pine, he looked under the bushes, he studied the ground with a very wise air. Then he hopped off down the Lone Little Path to the Green Meadows. He stopped at the house of Johnny Chuck.

"What makes your eyes so big and round?" asked Johnny Chuck. Peter Rabbit came very close so as to whisper in Johnny Chuck's ear, and told him all that he had seen. Together they went to Jimmy Skunk's house. Jimmy Skunk was in bed. He was very sleepy and very cross when he came to the door. Peter Rabbit told him what he had seen.

"Too bad! Too bad!" said Jimmy Skunk, and yawned sleepily.

"Won't you join us in trying to find out who did it?" asked Johnny Chuck.

Jimmy Skunk said he would be delighted to come, but that he had some other business that morning and he would join them in the afternoon. Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck went on. Pretty soon they met the Merry Little Breezes and told them the dreadful story.

"What shall we do?" asked Johnny Chuck.

"We'll hurry over, and tell Old Dame Nature," cried the Merry Little Breezes, "and ask her what to do."

So away flew the Merry Little Breezes to Old Dame Nature and told her all the dreadful story. Old Dame Nature listened very attentively. Then she sent the Merry Little Breezes to all the little meadow folks to tell everyone to be at the Great Pine that afternoon. Now, whatever Old Dame Nature commanded, all the little meadow folks were obliged to do. They did not dare to disobey her.

Promptly at 4 o'clock that afternoon all the little meadow folks were gathered around the foot of the Great Pine. Brokenhearted little Mrs. Ruffed Grouse sat beside her empty nest, with all the broken shells about her.

Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit, Johnny Chuck, Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Jerry Muskrat, Hooty the Owl, Bobby Coon, Sammy Jay, Blacky the Crow, Grandfather Frog, Mr. Toad, Spotty the Turtle, the Merry Little Breezes, all were there. Last of all came Jimmy Skunk. Very handsome he looked in his shining black coat, and very sorry he appeared that such a dreadful thing should have happened. He told Mrs. Grouse how badly he felt, and he loudly demanded that the culprit should be run down without delay and severely punished.

Old Dame Nature has the most smiling face in the world, but this time it was very, very grave indeed. First she asked little Mrs. Grouse to tell her story all over again that all might hear. Then each in turn was asked to tell where he had been the night before. Johnny Chuck, Happy Jack Squirrel, Striped Chipmunk, Sammy Jay, and Blacky the Crow had gone to bed when Mr. Sun went down behind the Purple Hills. Jerry Muskrat, Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, and Spotty the Turtle had been down in Farmer Brown's corn-field. Hooty the Owl had been hunting in the lower end of the Green Meadows. Peter Rabbit had been down in the Berry Patch. Mr. Toad had been under the big piece of bark which he called a house. Old Dame Nature called on Jimmy Skunk last of all. Jimmy protested that he had been very, very tired and had gone to bed very early indeed, and had slept the whole night through.

Then Old Dame Nature asked Peter Rabbit what he had found among the shells that morning.

Peter Rabbit hopped out and laid three long black hairs before Old Dame Nature. "These," said Peter Rabbit, "are what I found among the egg shells."

Then Old Dame Nature called Johnny Chuck. "Tell us, Johnny Chuck," said she, "what you saw when you called at Jimmy Skunk's house this morning."

"I saw Jimmy Skunk," said Johnny Chuck, "and Jimmy seemed very, very sleepy. It seemed to me that his whiskers were yellow."

"That will do," said Old Dame Nature, and she called Old Mother West Wind.

"What time did you come down on the Green Meadows this morning?" asked Old Dame Nature.

"Just at the break of day," said Old Mother West Wind, "as Mr. Sun was coming up from behind the Purple Hills."

"And whom did you see so early in the morning?" asked old Dame Nature.

"I saw Bobby Coon going home from old Farmer Brown's corn-field," said Old Mother West Wind. "I saw Hooty the Owl coming back from the lower end of the Green Meadows. I saw Peter Rabbit down in the berry patch. Last of all, I saw something like a black shadow coming down the Lone Little Path toward the house of Jimmy Skunk."

Everyone was looking very hard at Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy began to look very unhappy and very uneasy.

"Who wears a black coat?" asked Dame Nature.

"Jimmy Skunk!" shouted all the little meadow folks.

"What might make whiskers yellow?" asked Old Dame Nature.

No one seemed to know at first. Then Peter Rabbit spoke up. "It might be the yolk of an egg," said Peter Rabbit.

"Who are likely to be sleepy on a bright sunny morning?" asked Old Dame Nature.

"People who have been out all night," said Johnny Chuck, who himself always goes to bed with the sun.

"Jimmy Skunk," said Old Dame Nature, and her voice was very stern, very stern indeed, and her face was very grave. "Jimmy Skunk, I accuse you of having broken and eaten the eggs of Mrs. Grouse. What have you to say for yourself?"

Jimmy Skunk hung his head. He hadn't a word to say. He just wanted to sneak away by himself.

"Jimmy Skunk," said Old Dame Nature, "because your handsome black coat, of which you are so proud, has made it possible for you to move about in the night without being seen, and because we can no longer trust you upon your honor, henceforth you and your descendants shall wear a striped coat which is the sign that you cannot be trusted. Your coat hereafter shall be black and white, that will always be visible."

And this is why to this day Jimmy Skunk wears a striped suit of black and white.

[K] From "Old Mother West Wind," by Thornton W. Burgess; used by permission of the author and publishers, Little, Brown & Co.

BY JOHN BENNETT

A Boy having a Pet Cat which he Wished to Feed, Said to Her, "Come, Cat, Drink this Dish of Cream; it will Keep your Fur as Soft as Silk, and Make you Purr like a Coffee-Mill."

He had no sooner said this than the Cat, with a Great Glare of her Green Eyes, bristled her Tail like a Gun-Swab and went over the Back Fence, head first--pop!--as Mad as a Wet Hen.

And this is how she came to do so:

The story is an old one--very, very old. It may be Persian; it may be not: that is of very little moment. It is so old that if all the nine lives of all the cats that have ever lived in the world were set up together in a line, the other end of it would just reach back to the time when this occurred.

And this is the story:

Many, many years ago, in a country which was quite as far from anywhere else as the entire distance thither and back, there was a huge cat that ground the coffee in the King's kitchen, and otherwise assisted with the meals.

This cat was, in truth, the actual and very father of all subsequent cats, and his name was Sooty Will, for his hair was as black as a night in a coal-hole. He was ninety years old, and his mustaches were like whisk-brooms. But the most singular thing about him was that in all his life he had never once purred nor humped up his back, although his master often stroked him. The fact was that he never had learned to purr, nor had any reason, so far as he knew, for humping up his back. And being the father of all the cats, there was no one to tell him how. It remained for him to acquire a reason, and from his example to devise a habit which cats have followed from that time forth, and no doubt will forever follow.