"
"Ever read any fables?" asked the shark.
"No--yes--well, the catechism, the marriage service, and--"
"Oh, bother!" said the fish, playfully, smiling clean back to the
pectoral fins; "get out of this and bolt your AEsop!"
The man did get out and bolted.
[This fable teaches that its worthy author was drunk as a
loon.--TRANSLATOR.]
LI.
A lion pursued by some villagers was asked by a fox why he did not
escape on horseback.
"There is a fine strong steed just beyond this rock," said the fox.
"All you have to do is to get on his back and stay there."
So the lion went up to the charger and asked him to give him a lift.
"Certainly," said the horse, "with great pleasure."
And setting one of his heels into the animal's stomach, he lifted him.
about seven feet from the ground.
"Confound you!" roared the beast as he fell back.
"So did you," quietly remarked the steed.
LII.
A Mahout who had dismounted from his elephant, and was quietly
standing on his head in the middle of the highway, was asked by the
animal why he did not revert and move on.
"You are making a spectacle of yourself," said the beast.
"If I choose to stand upside down," replied the man, "I am very well
aware that I incur the displeasure of those who adhere with slavish
tenacity to the prejudices and traditions of society; but it seems to
me that rebuke would come with a more consistent grace from one who
does not wear a tail upon his nose.
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