THE OWL AND THE GRASSHOPPER

The Owl always takes her sleep during the day. Then after sundown,
when the rosy light fades from the sky and the shadows rise slowly through
the wood, out she comes ruffling and blinking from the old hollow tree. Now
her weird “hoo-hoo-hoo-oo-oo” echoes through the quiet wood, and she
begins her hunt for the bugs and beetles, frogs and mice she likes so well
to eat.

Now there was a certain old Owl who had become very cross and
hard to please as she grew older, especially if anything disturbed her daily
slumbers. One warm summer afternoon as she dozed away in her den in
the old oak tree, a Grasshopper nearby began a joyous but very raspy
song. Out popped the old Owl’s head from the opening in the tree that
served her both for door and for window.

“Get away from here, sir,” she said to the Grasshopper. “Have you no
manners? You should at least respect my age and leave me to sleep in
quiet!”

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 But the Grasshopper answered saucily that he had as much right to
his place in the sun as the Owl had to her place in the old oak. Then he
struck up a louder and still more rasping tune.
The wise old Owl knew quite well that it would do no good to argue
with the Grasshopper, nor with anybody else for that matter. Besides, her
eyes were not sharp enough by day to permit her to punish the
Grasshopper as he deserved. So she laid aside all hard words and spoke
very kindly to him.

“Well sir,” she said, “if I must stay awake, I am going to settle right
down to enjoy your singing. Now that I think of it, I have a wonderful wine
here, sent me from Olympus, of which I am told Apollo drinks before he
sings to the high gods. Please come up and taste this delicious drink with
me. I know it will make you sing like Apollo himself.”
The foolish Grasshopper was taken in by the Owl’s flattering words.
Up he jumped to the Owl’s den, but as soon as he was near enough so the
old Owl could see him clearly, she pounced upon him and ate him up.

Moral Lesson:

Flattery is not a proof of true admiration.

Do not let flattery throw you off your guard against an enemy.

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 THE WOLF AND THE KID

There was once a little Kid whose growing horns

made him think he was a grown-up Billy Goat and able to
take care of himself. So one evening when the flock
started home from the pasture and his mother called, the
Kid paid no heed and kept right on nibbling the tender
grass. A little later when he lifted his head, the flock was
gone.
He was all alone. The sun was sinking. Long shadows
came creeping over the ground. A chilly little wind came
creeping with them making scary noises in the grass. The
Kid shivered as he thought of the terrible Wolf. Then he
started wildly over the field, bleating for his mother. But not
half-way, near a clump of trees, there was the Wolf!
The Kid knew there was little hope for him.

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 “Please, Mr. Wolf,” he said trembling, “I know you are
going to eat me. But first please pipe me a tune, for I want
to dance and be merry as long as I can.”
The Wolf liked the idea of a little music before eating,
so he struck up a merry tune and the Kid leaped and
frisked gaily.
Meanwhile, the flock was moving slowly homeward. In
the still evening air the Wolf’s piping carried far. The
Shepherd Dogs pricked up their ears. They recognized the
song the Wolf sings before a feast, and in a moment they
were racing back to the pasture. The Wolf’s song ended
suddenly, and as he ran, with the Dogs at his heels, he
called himself a fool for turning piper to please a Kid, when
he should have stuck to his butcher’s trade.

Moral Lesson:
Do not let anything turn you from your purpose.