Allow me
to state certain objections to--"
"I was about to remark," said the lion, "that while you were
disputing, the cause of contention had hopped away. Perhaps you can
procure another frog."
To point out the moral of this fable would be to offer a gratuitous
insult to the acuteness of the reader.
XII.
An ass meeting a pair of horses, late one evening, said to them:
"It is time all honest horses were in bed. Why are you driving out at
this time of day?"
"Ah!" returned they, "if it is so very late, why are you out riding?"
"I never in my life," retorted the ass angrily, "knew a horse to
return a direct answer to a civil question."
This tale shows that this ass did not know everything.
[The implication that horses do not answer questions seems to have
irritated the worthy fabulist.--TRANSLATOR.]
XIII.
A stone being cast by the plough against a lump of earth, hastened to
open the conversation as follows:
"Virtue, which is the opposite of vice, is best fostered by the
absence of temptation!"
The lump of earth, being taken somewhat by surprise, was not prepared
with an apophthegm, and said nothing.
Since that time it has been customary to call a stupid person a
"clod."
XIV.
A river seeing a zephyr carrying off an anchor, asked him, "What are
you going to do with it?"
"I give it up," replied the zephyr, after mature reflection.
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