THE CHICKEN AND THE DOG.


Tantalus, as the old Greek fable tells us, was King of Lydia. Being
invited by Jupiter to his table, he heard secrets which he afterwards
divulged. To divulge a secret is to make it vulgar, or common, by
telling it.

Poor Tantalus was punished rather severely for his offence; but he had
sinned in betraying confidence. Sent to the lower world, he was placed
in the middle of a lake, the waters of which rolled away from him as
often as he tried to drink of them.

Over his head, moreover, hung branches of fruit, which drew away, in
like manner, from his grasp, whenever he put forth his hand to reach
them. And so, though all the time thirsty and hungry, he could not, in
the midst of plenty, satisfy his desires.

Therefore we call it to tantalize a person to offer him a thing he longs
for, and then to draw it away from him.

[Illustration]

In the picture, a little chicken is looking up at a spider which sits
over her in the midst of its web. She watches it, hoping that it will
come so near to her little bill, that she can peck at it, and swallow
it.