Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/501

 Rh THE PEACOCK AND THE ROOSTER

HE Peacock once said to the barn-yard Hen: "Listen to me! Have you ever thought that no matter how bravely and haughtily your Rooster struts about, men never speak of him as 'the proud Rooster?' Yet they always speak of me as 'the proud Peacock!'"

"The reason for that," answered the Hen, "is that men will excuse a justifiable pride. The Rooster is proud of his manliness, and the faithful watch he keeps. But what have you to be proud of? Paint and feathers!"

(Lessing, Fables, Book III, No. 27. Translated by G. Moir Bussey.)

THE LION AND THE HARE

LION once honored a Hare with his friendship. "Is it really a fact," asked the Hare, "that the crowing of a miserable cock is enough to scare you Lions into running away?"

"Such is undoubtedly the case," replied the Lion. "And it is a general truth that we larger animals, almost all of us, have some one foolish weakness. For example, you yourself must have heard that the grunting of a pig will astonish and terrify an elephant."

"Indeed!" interrupted the Hare. "Ah! now I understand why we Hares are so terribly afraid of a dog."

(Lessing, Fables, Book I, No. 3. Translated by G. Moir Bussey.)

JUPITER AND THE HORSE

ATHER of man and beast," said the Horse, approaching the throne of Jupiter, "it is said that I am one of the noblest creatures with which you have adorned the world, and my vanity tells