Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/142

 98 I am loved and well cared for by men and they often pat my head and shoulders." "Woe's me!" said the Flea; "this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my inevitable destruction."

(Fable 426 Halm; Townsend's translation.)

THE HARES AND THE LIONS

HE Hares harangued the assembly and argued that all should be on an equality. The Lions made this reply: "Your words, Hares! are good; but they lack both claws and teeth such as we have."

(Fable 241 Halm; Townsend's translation.)

THE KINGDOM OF THE LION

HE beasts of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be. He made during his reign a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for an universal league, in which the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity. The Hare said, "Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong."

(Fable 242 Halm; Townsend's translation.)