THE FARMER AND HIS SONS
A FARMER being on the point of death, and wishing to show his sons the way to success in farming, called them to him, and said, "My children, I am now departing from this life, but all I have to leave you, you will find in the vineyard." The sons, supposing that he referred to some hidden treasure, as soon as the old man died, set to work with their spades and ploughs and every implement that was at hand, and turned up the soil over and over again. They found indeed no treasure; but the vines, strengthened and improved by this thorough tillage, yielded a finer vintage than they had ever yielded before, and more than repaid the young husbandmen for all their trouble. So truly is industry in itself a treasure.
(Fable 98 Halm; Thomas James' translation.)
THE HUSBANDMAN AND THE STORK
A HUSBANDMAN fixed a net in his field to catch the Cranes that came to feed on his new-sown corn. When he went to examine the net, and see what Cranes he had taken, a Stork was found among the number. "Spare me," cried the Stork, "and let me go. I am no Crane. I have eaten none of your corn. I am a poor innocent Stork, as you may see—the most pious and dutiful of birds. I honour and succour my father and mother. I—" But the Husbandman cut him short. "All this may be true enough, I dare say, but this I
