[Illustration: The Merchant and the Fool.]




The Wolf and the Sheep.


A wolf that had been left for dead by the dogs lay not far from a running
brook. He felt that one good drink might save his life. Just then a sheep
passed near.

"Pray, sister," said he very gently, but with a sinister twinkle of his eye
teeth, "bring me some water from yon stream."

"Certainly," said the sheep, and she brought him a glass in which she had
poured a few knock-out drops. As she sat on his corpse a little later she
moralized in this manner: "Some clever people are wicked, but all wicked
people are not clever by a d----d sight."

[Illustration: The Wolf and the Sheep.]




The Ambitious Hippopotamus.


A hippopotamus who had dwelt contentedly for years on the banks of a reedy
stream, looked up one day and saw an eagle.