A man who kept a small farm came to the house of a judge. “Well, my man,” said the judge, “what do you come to me for?” “If you please, my lord, I have a sad tale to tell.” “Ha, the old tale! You folk with your small farms fall out, and then you come to plague me.” “Nay, my lord, this time it is with you and me. I have a bull that breaks out of his bounds, and he has got to your best field of corn, and has spoilt half of it; now I want to know what you would have me do in this case?” “Well, I must say you are a staunch old man to come and tell me of it, and I shall send my man John to look at the waste, and what he says it comes to you must pay. As to your bull, as you say he breaks out of his bounds, you must kill him, and that at once.” “Bless my heart!” said the man, “what was it I told you? I have but two small cows in the world. No, it was that red bull of yours, my lord, which locks and bars will not keep in; it is he that breaks through the fence of my corn field, and fine work he has made of it; but as you say you will send your man to make things right, I thank you, and take my leave.” “No,” said the judge, “you must not play me such a trick as this. I would not part with that red bull for all the world, and as to the field of corn, of course you must take your chance.” The law will catch small flies, but wasps will break through. We weigh not in the same scale the ills we do and the ills we feel. THE STAG IN THE OX’S STALL. [Illustration] A pack of hounds drove a poor stag out of a wood, and in a great fright he made off to a farm that was near, and hid in a heap of straw in an ox’s stall. “What can have brought you to such a place as this, where you are sure to meet with your doom?” said the ox. “Oh,” cries the stag, “if you will but help to hide me for a while, I shall do well, and by and by I will move off.” It grew dusk, and the men on the farm came in and out, but did not see the stag, so he now thought it time to leave. “Nay,” quoth the ox, “wait a while; there is the man who owns the farm to come yet, and should he pass this way, I would not give the straw you hide in for your life.” While the ox spoke, the man came up and cast his eyes on the stag, and made a prize of him. “That is a bad game,” said he, “where none wins.” [Illustration: The Stag in the Ox’s Stall.--Page 65. _Æsop._] THE GOAT AND THE FOX IN THE WELL. A fox, who was a great rogue, fell down a deep well. Just then, a goat came up who had a mind to slake his thirst, so he said to the fox, “Is the well a sweet one?” “Sweet!” says the fox; “it is the best well I have drunk from for along time. Come and try it.” At this the goat leapt in; and the fox--who put his feet on the goat’s horns--sprang out, and said, “If you had as much brain as you have beard, you would ‘Look ere you leap,’ for