The Porcupine and the Snakes

A Porcupine, seeking for shelter, desired some Snakes to give him
admittance into their cave. They accordingly let him in, but were
afterward so annoyed by his sharp, prickly quills that they repented of
their easy compliance, and entreated him to withdraw and leave them
their hole to themselves.

"No, no," said he, "let them quit the place that don't like it; for my
part, I am very well satisfied as I am."



The Lark and Her Young Ones

A Lark, who had Young Ones in a field of grain which was almost ripe,
was afraid that the reapers would come before her young brood was
fledged. Every day, therefore, when she flew off to look for food, she
charged them to take note of what they heard in her absence, and to
tell her of it when she came home.

One day, when she was gone, they heard the owner of the field say to
his son that the grain seemed ripe enough to be cut, and tell him to go
early the next day and ask their friends and neighbours to come and
help reap it.

When the old Lark came home, the Little Ones quivered and chirped
around her, and told her what had happened, begging her to take them
away as fast as she could. The mother bade them to be easy; "for,"