Page:Three hundred Aesop's fables (Townshend).djvu/46

 40 and did nothing but utter loud cries to Hercules to come and help him. Hercules, it is said, appeared, and thus addressed him:—"Put your shoulders to the wheels, my man. Goad on your bullocks, and never more pray to me for help, until you have done your best to help yourself, or depend upon it you will henceforth pray in vain."

Self-help is the best help.

THE MOLE AND HIS MOTHER.

, a creature blind from its birth, once said to his mother: "I am sure that I can see, mother!" In the desire to prove to him his mistake, his mother placed before him a few grains of frankincense, and asked, "What is it?" The young Mole said, "It is a pebble." His mother exclaimed: "My son, I am afraid that you are not only blind, but that you have lost your sense of smell."

THE HERDSMAN AND THE LOST BULL.

tending kine in a forest, lost a Bull calf from the fold. After a long and fruitless search, he made a vow that, if he could only discover the thief who had stolen the Calf, he would offer a lamb in sacrifice to Hermes, Pan, and the Guardian Deities of the forest. Not long afterwards, as he ascended a small hillock, he saw at its foot a Lion feeding on the Calf. Terrified at the sight, he lifted his eyes and his hands to heaven, and said: "Just now I vowed to offer a lamb to the Guardian Deities of the forest if I could only find out who had robbed me; but now that I have discovered the thief, I would willingly add a full-grown Bull to the Calf I have lost, if I may only secure my own escape from him in safety."