Fables

Fables
The Child Who Cried Wolf
Once there was a child whose job was to watch the sheep of the town. It was a lonely and often boring job. One day, the child thought it would be fun to cry “Wolf!” and watch the people working in nearby fields come running to help save the sheep. The child did this several times. Each time, the townspeople left their work, ran to help, and found the child laughing. Finally, the people got tired of the joke and decided not to listen to the child any longer.
Soon afterward, a wolf really came. The child shouted for help: “Wolf, wolf!” But the townspeople ignored the shouts, and all the sheep were killed.
The Lion and the Four Bulls
Lion used to walk about a field in which four bulls lived. Many times he tried to attack them, but whenever he came near they turned their tails to-ward one another so that whichever way Lion tried to attack, he would have to face the horns of one of them.
At last, however, the bulls started arguing with each other, and each went off to a different part of the field by himself. Then Lion attacked them one by one and soon had killed all four.
The Goose That Laid Golden Eggs
A man once owned a goose that laid eggs made of gold. Every day, the man took a golden egg from the goose’s nest, sold it at the market, and used the money to buy the things that he needed for the day. Then one day, the man got tired of waiting patiently for each golden egg to be laid. He wanted all his treasure at once, and so he killed the goose, thinking that inside her he would find solid gold. Sadly, after cutting open the goose, he found only the inside of a goose.
The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun were arguing about which of them was the stronger when they saw a man walking along a country road. They agreed that whichever one of them could make the man take off his coat was the stronger. The North Wind tried first, blowing

hard at the man. The man buttoned his coat. Then the North Wind blew even more violently, but that made the man hold his coat more closely to him. The Sun’s turn came next. Gently, the Sun shone on the man. After a while, the man became warm, so he unbut-toned his coat. Soon, he took it off. Thus the Sun was the winner.
The Fox in the Well
One day an unlucky fox who was trying to get a drink of water fell into a deep well and could not get out. Along came a thirsty goat and asked Fox if the water was good. “Oh, yes,” said Fox, “the wa-ter is excellent.” And Fox told the goat to jump in and have a drink. Without stopping to think, Goat jumped into the well and took a long drink. Then both animals began to wonder how they would get out of the well. “I have an idea,” said Fox. “Put your feet against the wall, and I will climb on top of you to get out. After I am out, I’ll pull you up too.” The goat gladly agreed, so the fox climbed onto Goat’s shoulders and out over the edge of the well. Then Fox started to leave. Goat cried out, “What about me? Aren’t you going to help me out?” “You have more hairs on your chin than brains in your head,” answered Fox. “If you were smart, you never would have jumped in without first thinking how you would get out.”
The Turtle and the Rabbit
A rabbit and a turtle were looking for something to do one afternoon and decided to have a race. “You are the slowest fellow I’ve ever met,” said the rabbit to the turtle. “Really?” an-swered the turtle. “I’ll race you any time you choose, and I’ll win.” “Im-possible,” cried the rabbit.