ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH OF LA FONTAINE
With great noise and much tumult a torrent fell down the mountain side. All fled before it; horror followed it; it made the country round it tremble.
Only one traveler, who was flying from robbers that were following after him, dared to cross the stream, and put it as a barrier between him and the men who were pursuing him. This gave him confidence although the robbers still followed. So when he reached the edge of a broad river, that seemed to him to be an image of sleep, it looked so soft and peaceable and quiet, he rode his horse into the water to cross it. It had no high banks, but a little beach sloped from the meadow down to meet the water, which looked so peaceful that it seemed as if a little child might cross it, to gather flowers on the other side, and so the traveler thought it held no danger for him.
But the quiet river was very deep, and though it made no noise, its current ran so strongly that it lifted both the horse and rider on its waves and carried them away, and drowned them.
Quiet people are stronger than the noisy.
THE TOMTIT AND THE BEAR
BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM
One summer day, as a Wolf and a Bear were walking together in a wood, they heard a bird singing most sweetly. “Brother,” said the Bear, “what can that bird be that is singing so sweetly?”