a rat was traveling along the king's highway. he was a very proud rat, considering his small size and the bad reputation all rats have. as mr. rat walked along—he kept mostly to the ditch—he noticed a great commotion up the road, and soon a grand procession came in view. it was the king and his retinue.
the king rode on a huge elephant adorned with the most gorgeous trappings. with the king in his luxurious howdah were the royal dog and cat. a great crowd of people followed the procession. they were so taken up with admiration of the elephant, that the rat was not noticed. his pride was hurt.
"what fools!" he cried. "look at me, and you will soon forget that clumsy elephant! is it his great size that makes your eyes pop out? or is it his wrinkled hide? why, i have eyes and ears and as many legs as he! i am of just as much importance, and"—
but just then the royal cat spied him, and the next instant, the rat knew he was not quite so important as an elephant.
a resemblance to the great in some things does not make us great.
some boys were playing one day at the edge of a pond in which lived a family of frogs. the boys amused themselves by throwing stones into the pond so as to make them skip on top of the water.
the stones were flying thick and fast and the boys were enjoying themselves very much; but the poor frogs in the pond were trembling with fear.
at last one of the frogs, the oldest and bravest, put his head out of the water, and said, "oh, please, dear children, stop your cruel play! though it may be fun for you, it means death to us!"
always stop to think whether your fun may not be the cause of another's unhappiness.
in a spell of dry weather, when the birds could find very little to drink, a thirsty crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. but the pitcher was high and had a narrow neck, and no matter how he tried, the crow could not reach the water. the poor thing felt as if he must die of thirst.
then an idea came to him. picking up some small pebbles, he dropped them into the pitcher one by one. with each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could drink.
in a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out.
one bright day in late autumn a family of ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.
"what!" cried the ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? what in the world were you doing all last summer?"
"i didn't have time to store up any food," whined the grasshopper; "i was so busy making music that before i knew it the summer was gone."
the ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.[pg 35]
"making music, were you?" they cried. "very well; now dance!" and they turned their backs on the grasshopper and went on with their work.
there's a time for work and a time for play.
