Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/472

 402 THE SQUIRREL AND THE THRUSH

N a certain holiday a big crowd had gathered in front of the window of a rich man's home, and stared with open-mouthed wonder at a Squirrel running in the revolving wheel of its cage. A Thrush, perched on a branch of a neighbouring tree, also wondered. The Squirrel ran so fast that his feet seemed to twinkle, and his bushy tail spread itself straight out behind him.

"Dear old friend of my native woods," said the Thrush, "will you please tell me what on earth you are doing?"

"My dear fellow," replied the Squirrel, "I can hardly stop to talk, for I have to work hard all day. I am, in fact, the courier of a great nobleman, so that I can hardly stop to eat or drink or even to take breath." And immediately the Squirrel began again, running faster than ever in its wheel.

"Yes," said the Thrush, as he flew away, "I can see plainly enough that you are running. But for all that, you are always there at the same window."

There are many busy-bodies in the world, always worrying, always rushing back and forth; every one wonders at them. They seem ready to jump out of their own skins; but in spite of it all, they make no more progress than does the Squirrel in his wheel.

(Krilov, Fables. Adapted from the translation by William R. S. Ralston.)

THE PEBBLE AND THE DIAMOND

DIAMOND which some one had lost lay for a long time beside a Pebble in the dust of the high-road. At last it was picked up by a merchant, and sold to a King who had it set in gold as one of the