sleep. The Ass said to himself, "These Pigs lead an easy life; they eat and drink and do nothing else whatever, while I toil all day long and eat very little. I will pretend that I am sick." Accordingly, he lay down upon the ground and remained comfortably stretched out, but with his eyes closed as though sick. His master, finding him on the ground, tried first to rouse him with a whip; but the Ass refused to move. He merely groaned and continued to lie at his ease. Then the master said to his wife, "Evidently our Ass is sick." The wife replied, "In that case let us give him some oats and corn and bread, and leave him a pail of water." They did as the wife had suggested; and although at first the Ass ate but sparingly, his appetite increased, and presently he began to grow fat, and said to himself, "I surely am having an easy life!" Meanwhile, the Pigs had been sufficiently fattened, and the master sent for the butcher who came with axe and knife and killed and dressed the Pigs. When he saw this, the Ass was filled with terror, and thought surely that they would kill him too now that he was fat. "Far rather," he said to himself, "would I labour and lead my former life of toil than be idle and fattened like the Pigs for the butcher!" So going forth from the stable the Ass pranced and frolicked around his master, who promptly put him back to his former work.
(Odo of Sherington.)
THE WOLF AND THE HARE
ONCE upon a time when the Wolf and the Hare chanced to meet, the former said, "Friend Hare, among all animals you are the most timid. Would you ever dare enter into any kind of contest with any other animal?"
