Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/495

 Rh harm the Lamb. At the same time, I listened to the jeers and jibes of an old Sheep with the most surprising indifference, although there were no Sheep-dogs there to be feared."

"I can explain all that," interrupted his friend, the Fox, who was comforting his last hours. "I remember distinctly all the circumstances. It was precisely the time that you so unfortunately got a bone stuck in your throat, which the kind-hearted Crane afterwards drew out!"

(Lessing, Fables, Book II, No. 4. Translated by G. Moir Bussey.)

THE OX AND THE CALF

POWERFUL Ox tore away the upper part of the door-way with his horns, in pushing himself through the low entrance of his stall.

"Look, Master!" shouted a presumptions young Calf, "I do not injure your property as the clumsy Ox does!

"How glad I would be," answered the Master, "if you were already big and strong enough to be able to do so!"

(Lessing, Fables, Book II, No. 5. Translated by G. Moir Bussey.)

THE BLIND HEN

HEN who had lost her sight, and was accustomed to scratching up the earth in search of food, although blind, still continued to scratch away most diligently. Of what use was it to the industrious fool? Another sharp-sighted hen who spared her tender feet, never budged from her side, and enjoyed, without scratching, the fruit of the other's labour. For as often as the Blind Hen scratched up a barleycorn, her watchful companion devoured it.

(Lessing, Fables, Book II, No. 9. Translated by G. Moir Bussey.)