"Blow me if _I_ would!" continued the river; "you might just as well
not have taken it at all."
"Between you and me," returned the zephyr, "I only picked it up
because it is customary for zephyrs to do such things. But if you
don't mind I will carry it up to your head and drop it in your mouth."
This fable teaches such a multitude of good things that it would be
invidious to mention any.
XV.
A peasant sitting on a pile of stones saw an ostrich approaching, and
when it had got within range he began pelting it. It is hardly
probable that the bird liked this; but it never moved until a large
number of boulders had been discharged; then it fell to and ate them.
"It was very good of you, sir," then said the fowl; "pray tell me to
what virtue I am indebted for this excellent meal."
"To piety," replied the peasant, who, believing that anything able to
devour stones must be a god, was stricken with fear. "I beg you won't
think these were merely cold victuals from my table; I had just
gathered them fresh, and was intending to have them dressed for my
dinner; but I am always hospitable to the deities, and now I suppose I
shall have to go without."
"On the contrary, my pious youth," returned the ostrich, "you shall go
within."
And the man followed the stones.
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