A BAT, falling to the ground, was caught by a Weasel, whom he entreated not to take his life. The Weasel protested that it was against nature for a weasel to let a bird go. Whereupon the Bat insisted that he was not a bird, and to prove it, called attention to his mouselike head and ears, which so confused the Weasel that he let the Bat go. Some time afterward, on another flight, the Bat fell again to the ground, and another Weasel caught him. On perceiving that the Weasel thought he was a mouse, the Bat contended that he had wings and therefore was not a mouse, and was again allowed to go free. THE FOX AND THE GOAT A FOX who had fallen into a deep well was casting about to find how he should get out again. At length a Goat came to the place, and seeing Reynard, asked whether the water was good, and if there was plenty. Hiding the real danger in his case, the Fox replied: “The best in the world, and so much of it that it cannot be exhausted. Come down and see.” Whereupon the Goat jumped down without more ado. Upon this the crafty Fox jumped upon her horns and nimbly leaped out, remarking to the deluded Goat, “If you had brains to match your beard, you would have looked before you leaped.” THE WOMAN AND HER HEN A THRIFTY Woman kept a Hen that could be depended on to lay an egg every morning. The watchful Woman thought within herself, “If I were to double my Hen’s allowance of barley, she would lay twice a day.” So she tried her plan, and the Hen became so fat and sleek that she left off laying at all. Thrift sometimes overreaches, and figures are not always facts. THE DOG IN THE MANGER A DOG once made his bed in a manger and lay there snarling and growling at whoever came by. The Oxen coming for their provender said: “What a miserable cur! neither to eat the grain himself nor to let any one else eat it!” THE MOUSE, THE FROG, AND THE HAWK A MOUSE in an evil day made the acquaintance of a Frog, and together they set off on their travels. On pretense of affection and of keeping his companion safe from harm, the Frog tied the Mouse’s forefoot to his own hind leg, and thus they proceeded. It worked well enough till they came to some water, and the Frog, bidding the Mouse to have good courage, plunged in and began to swim across. They were barely halfway when the Frog took a sudden plunge to the bottom, dragging the unfortunate Mouse after him. But the struggling of the Mouse made so great a commotion in the water that it attracted the attention of a Hawk, who, pouncing down and bearing away the Mouse, carried the Frog also. Alliances that are ill-matched generally end in disaster; and the one who compasses the destruction of his neighbor is often caught in his own snare. THE SHEPHERD BOY AND THE WOLF