The Junior Classics, Volume 1: Fairy and wonder tales
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 1: Fairy and wonder tales
Children's literature
The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and
they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey’s feet
to it, and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders. They went
along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market
Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and
caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey
fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was
drowned.
“That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them:
“PLEASE ALL, AND YOU WILL PLEASE NONE.”
THE SHEPHERD’S BOY
There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of
a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so
he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some
excitement. He rushed down toward the village calling out “Wolf, Wolf,”
and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stopped with
him for a considerable time.
This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterward he tried the
same trick, and again the villagers came to his help.
But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the forest,
and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out “Wolf,
Wolf,” still louder than before. But this time the villagers who had
been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and
nobody stirred to come to bis help.
So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy’s flock, and when the boy
complained, the wise man of the village said:
“A LIAR WILL NOT BE BELIEVED, EVEN WHEN HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH.”
ANDROCLES
A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the
forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down
moaning and groaning.
At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue
him, he turned back and went up to him.
As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and
bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and
was causing all the pain. He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw
of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles
like a dog.
Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring
him meat from which to live.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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