Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/429

 Rh

Your own superior powers.

The critic was embarrassed—scratched his head—

And slowly said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the fact is this;

I don't sing much,—but I know how to hiss."

(Florian, Fables, Book IV, No. 3. Translated by the Rev. Wm. Lucas Collins.)

THE TWO BALD MEN

NE day two Bald Men simultaneously discovered a piece of ivory gleaming brightly in a dark corner. They both sprang forward to pick it up. A quarrel followed, beginning with words and ending with blows. The victor lost, as might well be expected, the few grey hairs that he still possessed. The coveted treasure which he got as the prize of his victory was—an ivory comb.

(Florian, Fables, Vol. IV, No. 16.)

THE FLYING-FISH

YOUNG Flying-fish, discontented with his lot, said one day to his aged grandmother: "I don't know what I am going to do to escape death. Every time that I rise into the air I dread the claws of the sea-eagles; and when I plunge into the depths of the sea, the sharks attack me."

The older Fish replied: "My child, in this world if you are neither an eagle nor a shark you must quietly follow a narrow path, swimming high near the air, and flying low near the water."

(Florian, Fables, Vol. V, No. 20.)