Fables for the Times

By H.W. Phillips. Illustrated by T.R. Sullivant.
A baa-sheep was lying under the paw of a black-maned lion. Whatever was going to be done had to be done quickly. A thought flashed upon the sheep and he said:
Most dread lord and master, I have heard your voice extolled beyond that of all others. Will you not sing me a little selection from Wagner before I die?
The lion, touched in his vanity, immediately started up and roared away until the goose-flesh stood out on the rocks. When he had finished, the sheep was in tears.
What means this? growled the lion in a rage. Do you presume to criticise my singing?
Oh, no! sobbed the sheep. That is not it. But I have heard that wool was the worst thing in the world for the voice, and when I think of the ruin of that beautiful organ of yours, consequent upon eating me, I weep to think that I was not born hairless.
The lion regarded him out of the corner of his eye. Then, in his grandest manner, said: Run along home to your ma, little sheep; I was only playing with you, and walked off through the forest with a great deal of dignity.
A dog with a piece of meat in his mouth was crossing a bridge over a placid stream. On looking down he saw another dog with a precisely similar piece of meat in the water below him. That's a singular incident, he thought to himself as he prepared to jump in. But hold a minute! The angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection. Upon reflection, I find that the other dog and the meat are only optical phenomena. And he trotted on his way to Boston without further thought about the matter.
A fox stood under an apple-tree and gazed up earnestly at the globes of yellow lusciousness. How sad, for the sake of an old-time piece of literature, he said, that the fox is a carnivorous animal and doesn't care particularly about fruit!
IMMORAL:
We all have plenty of faults without the Truly Good taking the trouble to invent them for us.
A crow, having stolen a piece of flesh, perched in a tree to enjoy it at leisure. A fox saw her, and, being hungry, thought he would employ a little diplomacy to get the meat away from her.