Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/308



great friends, a tortoise, a weasel and a crow, were talking together one fine day when they were disturbed by the noise of an animal who was coming their way in great haste. They soon saw that it was a goat, who was evidently being pursued, so, as a matter of safety, each of them sought a place of refuge.

The goat stopped quite suddenly by the side of a pool, near which the three friends had been conversing together, but he seemed to be afraid to drink. The crow, who had flown to the upper branches of a high tree, saw that the man who had been hunting the goat had given up the chase, so he called to the tortoise, whose haven was the pool, that it was quite safe now for him to come out.

The tortoise at once came to the surface, and seeing the goat standing there, evidently