241. The Fox and the Lion



A FOX saw a Lion confined in a cage, and standing near him, bitterly reviled him.

The Lion said to the Fox, "It is not thou who revilest me; but this mischance which has befallen me."





242. The Owl and the Birds



AN OWL, in her wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout, to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow. She said acorns would produce mistletoe, from which an irremediable poison, the bird-lime, would be extracted and by which they would be captured.

The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax, which men had sown, as it was a plant which boded no good to them.

And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves.

The Birds gave no credence to these warning words, but considered the Owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds.

Hence it is that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things, while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly.





243. The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner



A TRUMPETER, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy. He cried out to his captors, "Pray spare me, and do not take my life without cause or without inquiry. I have not slain a single man of your troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet." "That is the very reason for which you should be put to death," they said; "for, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the others to battle."
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