"Vous seriez le phenix des hotes de ces bois!" ("You would be the phoenix of all the inhabitants of this wood!")--The phoenix! What is a phoenix? All of a sudden we are floundering in the lies of antiquity--we are on the edge of mythology. "The inhabitants of this wood." What figurative language! The flatterer adopts the grand style to add dignity to his speech, to make it more attractive. Will the child understand this cunning? Does he know, how could he possibly know, what is meant by grand style and simple style? "A ces mots le corbeau ne se sent pas de joie" (At these words, the crow is beside himself with delight).--To realise the full force of this proverbial expression we must have experienced very strong feeling. "Et, pour montrer sa belle voix" (And, to show his fine voice).--Remember that the child, to understand this line and the whole fable, must know what is meant by the crow's fine voice. "Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie" (He opens his wide beak and drops his prey).--This is a splendid line; its very sound suggests a picture. I see the great big ugly gaping beak, I hear the cheese crashing through the branches; but this kind of beauty is thrown away upon children. "Le renard s'en saisit, et dit, 'Mon bon monsieur'" (The fox catches it, and says, "My dear sir").--So kindness is already folly. You certainly waste no time in teaching your children. "Apprenez que tout flatteur" ("You must learn that every flatterer").--A general maxim. The child can make neither head nor tail of it. "Vit au depens de celui qui l'ecoute" ("Lives at the expense of the person who listens to his flattery").--No child of ten ever understood that. "Ce lecon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute" ("No doubt this lesson is well worth a cheese").--This is intelligible and its meaning is very good. Yet there are few children who could compare a cheese and a lesson, few who would not prefer the cheese. You will therefore have to make them understand that this is said in mockery. What subtlety for a child! "Le corbeau, honteux et confus" (The crow, ashamed and confused).--A nothing pleonasm, and there is no excuse for it this time. "Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus" (Swore, but rather too late, that he would not be caught in that way again).--"Swore." What master will be such a fool as to try to explain to a child the meaning of an oath? What a host of details! but much more would be needed for the analysis of all the ideas in this fable and their reduction to the simple and elementary ideas of which each is composed. But who thinks this analysis necessary to make himself intelligible to children? Who of us is philosopher enough to be able to put himself in the child's place? Let us now proceed to the moral.