Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/39

 Rh THE FOX AND THE GOAT

FOX had fallen into a well, and had been casting about for a long time how he should get out again; when at length a Goat came to the place, and wanting to drink, asked Reynard whether the water was good, and if there was plenty of it. The Fox, dissembling the real danger of his case, replied, "Come down, my friend; the water is so good that I cannot drink enough of it, and so abundant that it cannot be exhausted." Upon this the Goat without any more ado leaped in; but after satisfying his thirst, he asked the Fox how they were to get out of the well. The Fox replied that it would be quite simple if they helped each other; "If you will rear up and place your front feet against the side of the well and bend your horns forward, I can easily mount on your back and climb out." The Goat did as he was told and the Fox nimbly climbed up his back and with one jump from the Goat's horns, was safely out of the well. "Now it is your turn to help me out," said the Goat. But the Fox, leaving him in the lurch, called back, "My friend, if you had half as much brains as you have beard, you would have looked before you leaped."

(Fable 45 Halm; Adapted from Thomas James' translation.)

THE WIDOW AND THE HEN

WIDOW kept a Hen that laid an egg every morning. Thought the woman to herself, "If I double my Hen's allowance of barley, she will lay twice a-day." So she tried her plan, and the Hen became so fat and sleek, that she left off laying at all.

(Fable 111 Halm; Thomas James' translation.)