A Slave ran away from his master, by whom he had been
most cruelly treated, and, in order to avoid capture,
betook himself into the desert. As he wandered
about in search of food and shelter, he came to a
cave, which he entered and found to be unoccupied.
Really, however, it was a Lion’s den, and almost
immediately, to the horror of the wretched fugitive,
the Lion himself appeared. The man gave himself
up for lost: but, to his utter astonishment, the
Lion, instead of springing upon him and devouring
him, came and fawned upon him, at the same time whining
and lifting up his paw. Observing it to be much
swollen and inflamed, he examined it and found a large
thorn embedded in the ball of the foot. He accordingly
removed it and dressed the wound as well as he could:
and in course of time it healed up completely.
The Lion’s gratitude was unbounded; he looked
upon the man as his friend, and they shared the cave
for some time together. A day came, however,
when the Slave began to long for the society of his
fellow-men, and he bade farewell to the Lion and returned
to the town. Here he was presently recognised
and carried off in chains to his former master, who
resolved to make an example of him, and ordered that
he should be thrown to the beasts at the next public
spectacle in the theatre. On the fatal day the
beasts were loosed into the arena, and among the rest
a Lion of huge bulk and ferocious aspect; and then
the wretched Slave was cast in among them. What
was the amazement of the spectators, when the Lion
after one glance bounded up to him and lay down at
his feet with every expression of affection and delight!
It was his old friend of the cave! The audience
clamoured that the Slave’s life should be spared:
and the governor of the town, marvelling at such gratitude
and fidelity in a beast, decreed that both should
receive their liberty.
THE FLEA AND THE MAN
A Flea bit a Man, and bit him again, and again, till
he could stand it no longer, but made a thorough search
for it, and at last succeeded in catching it.
Holding it between his finger and thumb, he said—or
rather shouted, so angry was he—“Who
are you, pray, you wretched little creature, that
you make so free with my person?” The Flea,
terrified, whimpered in a weak little voice, “Oh,
sir! pray let me go; don’t kill me! I am
such a little thing that I can’t do you much
harm.” But the Man laughed and said, “I
am going to kill you now, at once: whatever is
bad has got to be destroyed, no matter how slight
the harm it does.”
Do not waste your pity on
a scamp.
THE BEE AND JUPITER
A Queen Bee from Hymettus flew up to Olympus with
some fresh honey from the hive as a present to Jupiter,
who was so pleased with the gift that he promised
to give her anything she liked to ask for. She
said she would be very grateful if he would give stings
to the bees, to kill people who robbed them of their
honey. Jupiter was greatly displeased with this
request, for he loved mankind: but he had given
his word, so he said that stings they should have.
The stings he gave them, however, were of such a kind
that whenever a bee stings a man the sting is left
in the wound and the bee dies.
