A Turtle asked an Eagle to teach her how to fly. The Eagle advised her not to try, as she was not fit for it; but she insisted. The Eagle took her in his claws, raised her up, and dropped her: she fell on stones and broke to pieces.
A Peasant lost his axe in the river; he sat down on the bank in grief, and began to weep.
The Water-sprite heard the Peasant and took pity on him. He brought a gold axe out of the river, and said: "Is this your axe?"
The Peasant said: "No, it is not mine."
The Water-sprite brought another, a silver axe.
Again the Peasant said: "It is not my axe."
Then the Water-sprite brought out the real axe.
The Peasant said: "Now this is my axe."
The Water-sprite made the Peasant a present of all three axes, for having told the truth.
At home the Peasant showed his axes to his friends, and told them what had happened to him.
One of the peasants made up his mind to do the same: he went to the river, purposely threw his axe into the water, sat down on the bank, and began to weep.
The Water-sprite brought out a gold axe, and asked: "Is this your axe?"
The Peasant was glad, and called out: "It is mine, mine!"
The Water-sprite did not give him the gold axe, and did not bring him back his own either, because he had told an untruth.
The Lion, the Ass, and the Fox went out to hunt. They caught a large number of animals, and the Lion told the Ass to divide them up. The Ass divided them into three equal parts and said: "Now, take them!"
The Lion grew angry, ate up the Ass, and told the Fox to divide them up anew. The Fox collected them all into one heap, and left a small bit for herself. The Lion looked at it and said:
An old, sick Lion was lying in his den. All the animals came to see the king, but the Fox kept away. So the Wolf was glad of the chance, and began to slander the Fox before the Lion.
"She does not esteem you in the least," he said, "she has not come once to see the king."
The Fox happened to run by as he was saying these words. She heard what the Wolf had said, and thought:
"Wait, Wolf, I will get my revenge on you."
So the Lion began to roar at the Fox, but she said:
"Do not have me killed, but let me say a word! I did not come to see you because I had no time. And I had no time because I ran over the whole world to ask the doctors for a remedy for you. I have just got it, and so I have come to see you."
The Lion said:
"What is the remedy?"
"It is this: if you flay a live Wolf, and put his warm hide on you—"
When the Lion stretched out the Wolf, the Fox laughed, and said:
"That's it, my friend: masters ought to be led to do good, not evil."
Two Companions were walking through the forest when a Bear jumped out on them. One started to run, climbed a tree, and hid himself, but the other remained in the road. He had nothing to do, so he fell down on the ground and pretended that he was dead.
The Bear went up to him, and sniffed at him; but he had stopped breathing.
The Bear sniffed at his face; he thought that he was dead, and so went away.
When the Bear was gone, the Companion climbed down from the tree and laughing, said: "What did the Bear whisper in your ear?"
"He told me that those who in danger run away from their companions are bad people."
The Olive-tree and the Reeds quarreled about who was stronger and sounder. The Olive-tree laughed at the Reeds because they bent in every wind. The Reeds kept silence. A storm came: the Reeds swayed, tossed, bowed to the ground,—and remained unharmed. The Olive-tree strained her branches against the wind,—and broke.
A house was overrun with Mice. A Cat found his way into the house, and began to catch them. The Mice saw that matters were bad, and said:
"Mice, let us not come down from the ceiling! The Cat cannot get up there."
When the Mice stopped coming down, the Cat decided that he must catch them by a trick. He grasped the ceiling with one leg, hung down from it, and made believe that he was dead.
A Mouse looked out at him, but said:
"No, my friend! Even if you should turn into a bag, I would not go up to you."
A Stag hid himself from the hunters in a vineyard. When the hunters missed him, the Stag began to nibble at the grape-vine leaves.
The hunters noticed that the leaves were moving, and so they thought, "There must be an animal under those leaves," and fired their guns, and wounded the Stag.
The Stag said, dying:
"It serves me right for wanting to eat the leaves that saved me."
A Lion, growing old, was unable to catch the animals, and so intended to live by cunning. He went into a den, lay down there, and pretended that he was sick. The animals came to see him, and he ate up those that went into his den. The Fox guessed the trick. She stood at the entrance of the den, and said:
"Well, Lion, how are you feeling?"
The Lion answered:
"Poorly. Why don't you come in?"
The Fox replied:
"I do not come in because I see by the tracks that many have entered, but none have come out."
A gardener had a Horse. She had much to do, but little to eat; so she began to pray to God to get another master. And so it happened. The gardener sold the Horse to a potter. The Horse was glad, but the potter had even more work for her to do. And again the Horse complained of her lot, and began to pray that she might get a better master. And this prayer, too, was fulfilled. The potter sold the Horse to a tanner. When the Horse saw the skins of horses in the tanner's yard, she began to cry:
"Woe to me, wretched one! It would be better if I could stay with my old masters. It is evident they have sold me now not for work, but for my skin's sake."
"Do you think that you have more strength than I? You are mistaken! What does your strength consist in? Is it that you scratch with your claws, and gnaw with your teeth? That is the way the women quarrel with their husbands. I am stronger than you: if you wish let us fight!"
And the Gnat sounded his horn, and began to bite the Lion on his bare cheeks and his nose. The Lion struck his face with his paws and scratched it with his claws. He tore his face until the blood came, and gave up.
The Gnat trumpeted for joy, and flew away. Then he became entangled in a spider's web, and the spider began to suck him up. The Gnat said:
"I have vanquished the strong beast, the Lion, and now I perish from this nasty spider."
A Dog fell asleep back of the yard. A Wolf ran up and wanted to eat him.
Said the Dog:
"Wolf, don't eat me yet: now I am lean and bony. Wait a little,—my master is going to celebrate a wedding; then I shall have plenty to eat; I shall grow fat. It will be better to eat me then."
The Wolf believed her, and went away. Then he came a second time, and saw the Dog lying on the roof. The Wolf said to her:
"Well, have they had the wedding?"
The Dog replied:
"Listen, Wolf! If you catch me again asleep in front of the yard, do not wait for the wedding."
A Stag went to the brook to quench his thirst. He saw himself in the water, and began to admire his horns, seeing how large and branching they were; and he looked at his feet, and said: "But my feet are unseemly and thin."
Suddenly a Lion sprang out and made for the Stag. The Stag started to run over the open plain. He was getting away, but there came a forest, and his horns caught in the branches, and the lion caught him. As the Stag was dying, he said:
"How foolish I am! That which I thought to be unseemly and thin was saving me, and what I gloried in has been my ruin."
A Wild Ass saw a Tame Ass. The Wild Ass went up to him and began to praise his life, saying how smooth his body was, and what sweet feed he received. Later, when the Tame Ass was loaded down, and a driver began to goad him with a stick, the Wild Ass said:
"No, brother, I do not envy you: I see that your life is going hard with you."