A young kid that would stray from the herd saw a wolf, and did her best to get out of his reach; but when she found that all hope was lost, she said, “Sir wolf, I know that I am to die at your hands, so as my life will now be but short, I pray of you to let it be a gay one. Now, do you pipe while I dance.” So the wolf pipes, and the kid jumps and springs to please him. A pack of hounds who heard the sound, ran up to see who was there, and then the wolf set off as fast as his legs would take him, and the kid came home safe. Quoth she, with a hop and a skip: [Illustration] “He that sticks to chance, When fools pipe he may dance.” But the wolf gave a deep sigh, and said: “He who will not when he may, When he wills, he shall have nay.” [Illustration: The Kid and the Wolf.--Page 20. _Æsop._] THE BAG OF GOLD. Two men set off to walk from Bath to York, and said they would each share the same fate, come what might. All went well till they got half way, when one of them saw a bag of gold in the path, which he took up. “Ha!” said he, “I am in luck’s way. See, I have found a bag of gold! I will buy a horse and ride the rest of my way.” “My friend,” said the man who went with him, “when we set out you told me we were to share the same luck, be it good or bad; so you ought to say ‘we’ have found a bag of gold, not ‘I.’” “You may think just as you please,” said the man, “but as it was I who found the gold, I shall keep it, and do with it as I said, and wish you good day.” Just then they heard a hue and cry of “Stop thief!” “Come, I pray you,” said the man (who held the bag), in a great fright; “come, let us hide in this wood, for if the men find us with the gold, they will take us for thieves, and we shall get hung for it.” “How now?” said his friend; “you swore it should be ‘I’ when you found the bag, so pray let it be ‘I’ as long as there is fear of theft.” A just man’s word is as good as a bond. One gets the prize, and both bear the blame. THE FOX WHO HAD LOST HIS TAIL.