Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/95



Rh another step. But the driver soon laid the stick across his back, saying at the same time, "You silly dolt! it is not you that they reverence, but the Image which you carry."

Fools take to themselves the respect that is given to their office.

(Fable 324 Halm; Thomas James' translation.)

THE WOLF AND THE LION

NE day a Wolf had seized a sheep from a fold, and was carrying it home to his own den, when he met a Lion, who straightway laid hold of the sheep and bore it away. The Wolf, standing at a distance, cried out, that it was a great shame, and that the Lion had robbed him of his own. The Lion laughed, and said, "I suppose, then, that it was your good friend the shepherd who gave it to you."

(Fable 279 Halm; Thomas James' translation.)

THE HOUND AND THE HARE

HOUND after long chasing a Hare at length came up to her, and kept first biting and then licking her. The Hare, not knowing what to make of him, said: "If you are a friend, why do you bite me?—but if a foe, why caress me?"

A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him.

(Fable 229 Halm; Thomas James' translation.)

THE KID AND THE WOLF

KID that had strayed from the herd was pursued by a Wolf. When she saw all other hope of escape was cut off, she turned round to the Wolf, and said, "I must allow indeed that I am your