"I have given up dancing," said the Tongs, "for they no longer dance with the Elegance and Grace that were universal in my young days!"
"But for the Mercy of Providence," said the Fox, piously, to the Goose whom he found in a trap that had been set for himself, "our respective situations might now be reversed!"
"She really sang quite nicely," remarked the Cuckoo, after she had been to hear the Nightingale one evening, "but it's a pity her range is so sadly limited!"
The Mendicant insisted on making his Will:
"But what hast thou to leave when thou diest?" cried the Scribe.
"As much as the richest," he replied; "for when I die, I leave the entire World!"
Note.—This is (if not incorrectly translated) a grotesque and puerile allegation. The veriest tyro is aware that when a Millionaire hops the twig of his existence, he leaves more behind him than a mere Mendicant!—H. B. J.