The Fox and the Grapes

ONE hot summer day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to some fine bunches of grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. Just the things to quench my thirst, he said.

Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last gave up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I thought those grapes were ripe, but now I am sure they are sour."

The moral of the story: It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

The Spendthrift and the Sparrow

A Spendthrift who had wasted his fortune, and had nothing left but the clothes in which he stood, saw a Swallow one fine day in early spring. Thinking that summer had come, and that he could now do without his coat, he went and sold it for what it would fetch. A change, however, took place in the weather, and there came a sharp frost which killed the unfortunate Swallow.

When the Spendthrift saw its dead body he cried, "Miserable bird! Thanks to you I am perishing of cold myself."

The moral of the story: One swallow does not make summer.

The Milkmaid and Her Pail

A FARMER'S daughter had been out to milk the cows and was returning to the dairy carrying her Pail on her head. As she went along she began thinking: "The milk in this pail will provide me with cream, which I will make into butter and take to market to sell. With this money I will buy a bunch of eggs. When they are hatched ,they will produce chickens, and by and by I shall have quite a large poultry yard.

With the money that I get from the sale of these eggs I will buy myself a new dress which I will wear to the fair; won't all the young men come up and speak to me! The plain girls will be jealous; but I don't care. I shall just look at them and toss my head like this." As she spoke she tossed her head back, the Pail fell off it, and all the milk was spilled, and all her castles in the air vanished.

The moral of the story: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.