Part 3

MYTHS

RHOECUS Fanny E. Coe 214

KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS Flora J. Cooke 217

THE STORY OF PEGASUS Fanny E. Coe 219

THE WOLF-MOTHER OF SAINT AILBE Abbie Farwell Brown 223

WHO WAS THE MIGHTIER? Fanny E. Coe 231

STORIES FROM REAL LIFE

HANS THE SHEPHERD BOY Ella Lyman Cabot 234

NATHAN AND THE BEAR M. A. L. Lane 236

THE MAN ON THE CHIMNEY Fanny E. Coe 241

POCAHONTAS E. A. and M. F. Blaisdell 244

THE DAY KIT AND KAT WENT FISHING Lucy Fitch Perkins 247

THE HONEST FARMER Ella Lyman Cabot 257

DAMON AND PYTHIAS Ella Lyman Cabot 259

LINCOLN'S UNVARYING KINDNESS Fanny E. Coe 261

HOW MOLLY SPENT HER SIXPENCE Eliza Orne White 265

HANS AND HIS DOG Maud Lindsay 275

* * * * *

The Fox and the Wolf

A Russian Fable

Once upon a time there was a fox so shrewd that, although he was neither so fleet of foot, nor so strong of limb, as many of his kindred, he nevertheless managed to feed as comfortably as any of them.

One winter's day, feeling rather hungry, he trotted out of his lair to take a look round. The neighbouring farmers guarded their hen-roosts so carefully from his depredations that a nice fat hen was out of the question, and the weather was too cold to tempt the rabbits out of their snug warren. Therefore Mr Fox set his wits to work and kept his eyes open for what might come along.

After a while, as he slunk along the bottom of a dry ditch, he descried in the distance an old man driving a cart. This was Truvor, the fisherman, who, since two or three days of December sunshine had melted the ice, had had a good catch of fish in the lake by the mountain-side.

"Aha!" said the fox to himself, "I should relish a dinner of fine, fresh trout. Truvor is far too selfish to share them with me, so I will have them all."

To achieve the purpose in view, he laid himself flat in the road over which the fisherman must pass and pretended to be dead. The fisherman beheld him with surprise when he drew near, and jumping from his seat poked his sleek sides with his whip. The fox did not move a muscle, and Truvor decided that he had been frozen to death by the cold of the preceding night.

"I will take him home to my wife," he remarked, as he flung the limp body into his cart. "His coat will make a very nice rug for our parlour, and she can use his brush to dust with."

The fox had much ado to refrain from laughing when he heard this and found himself amongst the fish. They smelt delicious, but he did not think it wise to eat them then, so he silently dropped them one by one into the road, and when the cart was empty, sprang out himself. Knowing nothing of what had been going on, the old man drove on until he reached his cottage.

"Come and see what I have brought you!" he called to his wife. You can imagine the good woman's disgust when she found the cart quite empty. Not only was she without the rug, but they would have no dinner.