carved under these cruder symbols was everywhere the same; and whether
fables began with Æsop or began with Adam, whether they were German
and mediæval as Reynard the Fox, or as French and Renaissance as
La Fontaine, the upshot is everywhere essentially the same: that
superiority is always insolent, because it is always accidental; that
pride goes before a fall; and that there is such a thing as being too
clever by half. You will not find any other legend but this written
upon the rocks by any hand of man. There is every type and time of
fable: but there is only one moral to the fable; because there is only
one moral to everything_.

G. K. CHESTERTON




CONTENTS


THE FOX AND THE GRAPES

THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS

THE CAT AND THE MICE

THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG

THE CHARCOAL-BURNER AND THE FULLER

THE MICE IN COUNCIL