t last the Crane agreed to try, and told the Wolf to lie on his side and open
his jaws as wide as he could. Then the Crane put its long neck down the Wolf's
throat, and with its beak loosened the bone, till at last it got it out.
"Will you kindly give me the reward you promised?" said the Crane.
The Wolf grinned and showed his teeth and said: "Be content. You have
put your head inside a Wolf's mouth and taken it out again in safety; that ought
to be reward enough for you."
Gratitude and greed go not together.
The Man and the Serpent
A Countryman's son by accident trod upon a Serpent's tail, which turned and
bit him so that he died. The father in a rage got his axe, and pursuing the
Serpent, cut off part of its tail. So the Serpent in revenge began stinging
several of the Farmer's cattle and caused him severe loss. Well, the Farmer
thought it best to make it up with the Serpent, and brought food and honey to
the mouth of its lair, and said to it: "Let's forget and forgive; perhaps
you
