Xanthus, instructed by Aesop, gravely took his seat at the table. The
beholders looked on with astonishment, thinking that he must surely have
lost his senses.

"My agreement," said he, turning to the scholar, "is to drink up the
sea. I said nothing of the rivers and streams that are everywhere
flowing into it. Stop up these, and I will proceed to fulfill my
engagement."

* * * * *

It is said that at one time when Xanthus started out on a long journey,
he ordered his servants to get all his things together and put them up
into bundles so that they could carry them.

When everything had been neatly tied up, Aesop went to his master and
begged for the lightest bundle. Wishing to please his favorite slave,
the master told Aesop to choose for himself the one he preferred to
carry. Looking them all over, he picked up the basket of bread and
started off with it on the journey. The other servants laughed at his
foolishness, for that basket was the heaviest of all.

When dinner-time came, Aesop was very tired, for he had had a difficult
time to carry his load for the last few hours. When they had rested,
however, they took bread from the basket, each taking an equal share.
Half the bread was eaten at this one meal, and when supper-time came the
rest of it disappeared.

For the whole remainder of the journey, which ran far into the night and
was over rough roads, up and down hills, Aesop had nothing to carry,