beautiful garden, and then looked at itself, and was sorry it had not remained in the dark corner of the garret.

"Everything has passed!" said the Tree. "I wish I had rejoiced when I might have done so.'

A servant came, and chopped the tree into little pieces. He burned it, and, as it blazed brightly, it sighed, and each sigh was like a little shot; and the children who were at play there looked into the fire and cried, "Puff! puff!" The Tree thought of the summer day in the woods, or of a winter night when the stars shone, of Christmas Eve, of Klumpey-Dumpey, the only story he had ever heard or knew how to tell; and then he was burned.

The boys played in the garden, and the youngest wore the golden star which the Fir Tree wore on its happiest evening; now that was past, and the Tree's life was past, and the story is past, too,-and that is the way with all stories.

A

The Dog in the Manger.

ESOP.

DOG lay in a manger full of hay. An Ox came near and wanted to eat the hay. The Dog got up and growled at him, and would not let him eat it. "Cross Dog," said the Ox; "you cannot eat the hay, and yet you will let no one else have any."

A

The Husbandman and His Sons.

ESOP.

CERTAIN husbandman lying at the point of death, called his sons around him, and gave into their charge his fields and vineyards, telling them that a treasure lay hidden somewhere in them, within a foot from the surface. His sons thought he spoke of money which he had hidden, and after he was buried they worked hard, digging all over the estate, but found nothing. The soil being well loosened, however, the succeeding crops were richer than ever before, and the sons then knew what their father had in view in telling them to dig for hidden treasure.

A

The Sun and the North Wind.

ÆSOP.

DISPUTE once arose between the Sun and the

North Wind as to which was the stronger of the two. Seeing a traveler on his way, they agreed to try which could sooner make him throw off his cloak.

The North Wind began, and sent a fierce blast which, at the outset, nearly tore the cloak from its fastenings; but the traveler took hold of the garment with a firm grip, and held it round his body so tightly that the North Wind put forth all the rest of his force in vain.

Then the Sun, driving away the clouds that had gathered, darted his most sultry beams on the traveler's head. The man, growing faint with the heat, flung off his cloak, and ran for protection to the nearest shade.

ON

Hercules and Pallas.

ESOP.

To his

NCE when Hercules was journeying along a narrow roadway, he came across a strange-looking animal that reared its head and threatened him. Hercules, not at all frightened, gave him a few lusty blows with his club, and started to move on. surprise and astonishment, the animal was now three times as large as before, and of a still more threatening aspect. He therefore redoubled his blows, and laid about him fast and furiously; but the harder and quicker the strokes of the club, the bigger and more frightful grew the monster, who now completely filled up the road. Pallas then appeared upon the "Stop, Hercules," said she. "Cease your The monster's name is Strife. Let it alone, and it will soon become as little as it was at first."

scene.

blows.

L

The Frogs Asking for a King.

ÆSOP.

ONG ago, when the Frogs were all at liberty in the lakes, and had grown quite weary of following every one his own devices, they assembled one day together, and with great clamor petitioned Jupiter to let them have a king, to keep them in better order and make them lead honester lives. Jupiter, knowing their foolishness, smiled at their request, and threw down a log into the lake, which, by the huge splash and commotion it made, sent the whole nation of Frogs into the greatest terror and amazement. They rushed under the water and into the mud, and dared not come into a leap's length of the spot where it lay. At length one Frog, bolder than the rest, ventured to pop his head above the water, and take a look at their new king from a respectful distance. Presently, when they saw the log lie stock still, others began to swim up to it and around it, till by degrees growing bolder and bolder, they at last leaped upon it, and treated it with the greatest contempt. Full of disgust for so tame a ruler, they carried a petition a second time to Jupiter, and asked for a more active king. He then sent them a stork, who had no sooner come among them than he began to eat them as fast as he could, and it was in vain that they tried to escape him. Then they sent Mercury to Jupiter to beg for mercy for them, but Jupiter replied that they were only suffering the result of their own folly, and that another time they would know enough to let well alone.