ones were completely worn out. He had no seeds for his fields. He was in
a desperate plight.

He did not like his neighbor, Mr. Fish, any too well but there was no
way out. He must go and humbly he must ask for the loan of a small
sum of money.

He called on Fish. The latter said that he would gladly let him have
whatever he needed but could Sparrow put up any sort of guaranty?

Sparrow said, "Yes." He would offer his own farm as a pledge of good
faith.

Unfortunately Fish knew all about that farm. It had belonged to the
Sparrow family for many generations. But the Father of the present owner
had allowed himself to be terribly cheated by a Phoenician trader who
had sold him a couple of "Phrygian Oxen" (nobody knew what the name
meant) which were said to be of a very fine breed, which needed little
food and performed twice as much labor as the common Egyptian oxen. The
old farmer had believed the solemn words of the impostor. He had bought
the wonderful beasts, greatly envied by all his neighbors.

They had not proved a success.

They were very stupid and very slow and exceedingly lazy and within
three weeks they had died from a mysterious disease.

The old farmer was so angry that he suffered a stroke and the management
of his estate was left to the son, who worked hard but without
much result.