"Get out of my way,--I am hurrying to town." But the other said: "Get out of my way, I am hurrying home." They quarrelled for some time. A third Peasant saw them and said: "If you are in a hurry, back up!" THE PEASANT AND THE HORSE A Peasant went to town to fetch some oats for his Horse. He had barely left the village, when the Horse began to turn around, toward the house. The Peasant struck the Horse with his whip. She went on, and kept thinking about the Peasant: "Whither is that fool driving me? He had better go home." Before reaching town, the Peasant saw that the Horse trudged along through the mud with difficulty, so he turned her on the pavement; but the Horse began to turn back from the street. The Peasant gave the Horse the whip, and jerked at the reins; she went on the pavement, and thought: "Why has he turned me on the pavement? It will only break my hoofs. It is rough underfoot." The Peasant went to the shop, bought the oats, and drove home. When he came home, he gave the Horse some oats. The Horse ate them and thought: "How stupid men are! They are fond of exercising their wits on us, but they have less sense than we. What did he trouble himself about? He drove me somewhere. No matter how far we went, we came home in the end. So it would have been better if we had remained at home from the start: he could have been sitting on the oven, and I eating oats." THE TWO HORSES Two Horses were drawing their carts. The Front Horse pulled well, but the Hind Horse kept stopping all the time. The load of the Hind Horse was transferred to the front cart; when all was transferred, the Hind Horse went along with ease, and said to the Front Horse: "Work hard and sweat! The more you try, the harder they will make you work." When they arrived at the tavern, their master said: "Why should I feed two Horses, and haul with one only? I shall do better to give one plenty to eat, and to kill the other: I shall at least have her hide." So he did. THE AXE AND THE SAW Two Peasants went to the forest to cut wood. One of them had an axe, and the other a saw. They picked out a tree, and began to dispute. One said that the tree had to be chopped, while the other said that it had to be sawed down. A third Peasant said: "I will easily make peace between you: if the axe is sharp, you had better chop it; but if the saw is sharp you had better saw it." He took the axe, and began to chop it; but the axe was so dull that it was not possible to cut with it. Then he took the saw; the saw was worthless, and did not saw. So he said: "Stop quarrelling awhile; the axe does not chop, and the saw does not saw. First grind your axe and file your saw, and then quarrel." But the Peasants grew angrier still at one another, because one had a dull axe, and the other a dull saw. And they came to blows. THE DOGS AND THE COOK