Strona 74 z 274

A Lamp, well filled with oil, burned with a clear and steady

light, and began to swell with pride and boast that it shone more

brightly than the sun himself. Just then a puff of wind came and

blew it out. Some one struck a match and lit it again, and said,

"You just keep alight, and never mind the sun. Why, even the

stars never need to be relit as you had to be just now."

THE OWL AND THE BIRDS

The Owl is a very wise bird; and once, long ago, when the first

oak sprouted in the forest, she called all the other Birds

together and said to them, "You see this tiny tree? If you take

my advice, you will destroy it now when it is small: for when it

grows big, the mistletoe will appear upon it, from which birdlime

will be prepared for your destruction." Again, when the first

flax was sown, she said to them, "Go and eat up that seed, for it

is the seed of the flax, out of which men will one day make nets

to catch you." Once more, when she saw the first archer, she

warned the Birds that he was their deadly enemy, who would wing

his arrows with their own feathers and shoot them. But they took

no notice of what she said: in fact, they thought she was rather

mad, and laughed at her. When, however, everything turned out as

she had foretold, they changed their minds and conceived a great

respect for her wisdom.