THE COBBLER TURNED DOCTOR
A CLUMSY and unsuccessful Cobbler, rendered desperate by poverty, went to a strange town and began to practise medicine. He sold a drug which he falsely claimed was an antidote for all poisons, and obtained a great reputation, thanks to his high-sounding advertisements. It happened that the Mayor of the town, finding himself indisposed, sent for this new Doctor; but deciding first to put him to a test, he called for a cup and while pouring in water pretended that he was mixing poison with the Cobbler's antidote, and proposed that they should drink it together on a wager. Hereupon the Cobbler under fear of death confessed that he had no skill in the art of medicine, and owed his fame only to the credulity of the crowd. The Mayor forthwith called a public meeting, and thus addressed the citizens:
"Consider the folly of which you have been guilty! You have not hesitated to entrust your lives to a man whom no one would trust even to make the shoes for their feet."
(Phædrus, Fables, Vol. I, No. 14.)
THE ASS AND THE OLD SHEPHERD
A SHEPHERD watched his Ass feeding in a meadow. Being alarmed on a sudden by the cries of the enemy, he appealed to the Ass to fly with him, lest they should both be captured. He lazily replied, "Why should I, pray? Do you think it likely the conquerer will place on me two sets of panniers?" "No," rejoined the
