Some Cranes made their feeding grounds on a field which had been newly sown with wheat.

For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, chased the Cranes away by scaring them. When the birds found that the sling was only swung in the air, they stopped taking any notice of it and would not move.

The Farmer, on seeing this, filled his sling with stones, and killed a great number of Cranes. The remaining birds at once forsook his fields, crying to each other,

“It is time for us to be off: for this man is no longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in earnest what he can do.”

Moral: If words suffice not, blows must follow.

A Man and a Lion traveled together through the forest. They soon began to boast of their respective superiority to each other in strength and prowess.

As they were disputing, they passed a statue carved in stone, which represented “a Lion strangled by a Man.”

The traveler pointed to it and said: “See there! How strong we are, and how we are stronger even the king of beasts.”

The Lion replied: “This statue was made by one of you men. If we Lions knew how to erect statues, you would see the Man placed under the paw of the Lion.”

Moral: One story is good, until another is told.

One winter a Farmer found a Snake stiff and frozen with cold. He had compassion on it, and taking it up, placed it inside his coat where it was warm.

The Snake was quickly revived by the warmth, and resuming its natural instincts, bit the Farmer, giving him a mortal wound.

“Oh,” cried the Farmer with his last breath, “I should have known better than to pity a scoundrel.”

Moral: The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful.

A Farmer placed nets on his newly-sown farming land and caught a number of Cranes, which came to pick up his seed.

One day he trapped a Stork that had fractured his leg in the net. The Stork earnestly beseeched the Farmer to spare his life.

“Pray save me, Master,” he said, “and let me go free this one time. Have pity on me for my broken leg. Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character. Look too, at my feathers— they are not the least like those of a Crane.”

The Farmer laughed aloud and said, “It may be all as you say, I only know this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company.”

Moral: Be careful who you hang out with.

A Herdsman tending his flock in a forest lost a Bull-calf from the fold. After a long and fruitless search, he made a vow that, if he could only discover the thief who had stolen the Calf, he would offer a lamb in sacrifice to Hermes, Pan, and the gods of the forest.

Not long afterwards, as he ascended a small hillock, he saw at its foot a Lion feeding on the Calf. Terrified at the sight, he lifted his eyes and his hands to heaven, and said:

“Just now I vowed to offer a lamb to the gods of the forest if I could only find out who had robbed me; but now that I have discovered the thief, I would willingly add a full-grown Bull to the Calf I have lost, if I may only secure my own escape from him in safety.”

Moral: Be careful what you wish for.