He went so far as to tell the beasts that it was their own fault that they were ill, since if they would but submit to his treatment, he would restore them to perfect health. A Fox, hearing it, asked: “How is it, since you can do such great things for others, you do not first try to mend your own ugly gait and your wrinkled skin? They who assume to help others should first improve themselves.” THE WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING A WOLF once clothed himself in the fleece of a sheep, and being mistaken for one of the flock, got into the fold. He had a chance to make way with as many sheep as he liked; but his time for doing so was short, for the Shepherd, coming into the fold during the night, discovered him. Tying him to a tree, he left him hanging there, still in his sheep’s dress, as a warning to other wolves who might be prowling about. Some shepherds who chanced to pass by saw him there, and stopped to inquire why sheep should be thus served. As they came nearer and saw that it was not a sheep but a Wolf, the Shepherd said, “This is the way I serve a Wolf, even though I find him wearing the habit of a sheep.” THE BOY AND THE FILBERTS A BOY once thrust his hand into a pitcher nearly filled with Filberts. He grasped as many as his hand could possibly hold; but when he tried to draw out his closed fist, the narrowness of the neck prevented him from doing so. Unwilling to lose his nuts, yet unable to get them by drawing out his hand, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his hard fortune. A person standing by finally gave him this wise and reasonable advice: “Be satisfied to take half as many, my boy, and you will get them easily.” THE MISER A MISER who had buried a lump of gold in the ground came to the spot every day to look at it. Finding one day that it had been stolen, he began to tear his hair and lament loudly. A neighbor, seeing him, said: “Pray do not grieve so. Bury a stone in the same hole and fancy it is the gold. It will serve you just as well, for when the gold was there you made no use of it.” THE WIDOW AND HER LITTLE MAIDS A WIDOW who had great reputation as a housekeeper, because she was so fond of cleaning, was waited upon by two little Maids. She herself was wakened before dawn by the crowing of the cock, and would rise at once and call her Maids. The Maids, who had no taste for such excessive tidiness, and who were kept weary by such constant labor, held a spite against the poor cock for rousing their mistress so early. “If it were not for him,” they said, “the mistress would sleep till the sun is well up. Let us kill the cock, since there is no other way to stop his loud crowing.” But the mistress, no longer hearing the cock, was unable to tell the time, and so often woke her Maids in the middle of the night and set them to work. THE CHARCOAL BURNER AND THE FULLER