a silver axe, asked if that was his. “No,
that is not mine either,” said the Woodman.
Once more Mercury dived into the river, and brought
up the missing axe. The Woodman was overjoyed
at recovering his property, and thanked his benefactor
warmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty
that he made him a present of the other two axes.
When the Woodman told the story to his companions,
one of these was filled with envy of his good fortune
and determined to try his luck for himself. So
he went and began to fell a tree at the edge of the
river, and presently contrived to let his axe drop
into the water. Mercury appeared as before, and,
on learning that his axe had fallen in, he dived and
brought up a golden axe, as he had done on the previous
occasion. Without waiting to be asked whether
it was his or not the fellow cried, “That’s
mine, that’s mine,” and stretched out
his hand eagerly for the prize: but Mercury was
so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined
to give him the golden axe, but also refused to recover
for him the one he had let fall into the stream.
Honesty is the best policy.
An Ass and a Fox went into partnership and sallied
out to forage for food together. They hadn’t
gone far before they saw a Lion coming their way,
at which they were both dreadfully frightened.
But the Fox thought he saw a way of saving his own
skin, and went boldly up to the Lion and whispered
in his ear, “I’ll manage that you shall
get hold of the Ass without the trouble of stalking
him, if you’ll promise to let me go free.”
The Lion agreed to this, and the Fox then rejoined
his companion and contrived before long to lead him
by a hidden pit, which some hunter had dug as a trap
for wild animals, and into which he fell. When
the Lion saw that the Ass was safely caught and couldn’t
get away, it was to the Fox that he first turned his
attention, and he soon finished him off, and then
at his leisure proceeded to feast upon the Ass.
Betray a friend, and you’ll
often find you have ruined yourself.
A Lion asleep in his lair was waked up by a Mouse
running over his face. Losing his temper he seized
it with his paw and was about to kill it. The
Mouse, terrified, piteously entreated him to spare
its life. “Please let me go,” it
cried, “and one day I will repay you for your
kindness.” The idea of so insignificant
a creature ever being able to do anything for him
amused the Lion so much that he laughed aloud, and
good-humouredly let it go. But the Mouse’s
chance came, after all. One day the Lion got
entangled in a net which had been spread for game
by some hunters, and the Mouse heard and recognised
his roars of anger and ran to the spot. Without
more ado it set to work to gnaw the ropes with its
teeth, and succeeded before long in setting the Lion
free. “There!” said the Mouse, “you
laughed at me when I promised I would repay you:
but now you see, even a Mouse can help a Lion.”
