The Monkey and the Dolphin.


[Illustration]

A Sailor, bound on a long voyage, took with him a Monkey to amuse him
while on shipboard. As he sailed off the coast of Greece, a violent
tempest arose, in which the ship was wrecked, and he, his Monkey and all
the crew were obliged to swim for their lives. A Dolphin saw the Monkey
contending with the waves, and supposing him to be a man (whom he is
always said to befriend), came and placed himself under him, to convey
him on his back in safety to the shore. When the Dolphin arrived with
his burden in sight of land not far from Athens, he demanded of the
Monkey if he were an Athenian, who answered that he was, and that he was
descended from one of the noblest families in that city.

The Dolphin then inquired if he knew the Piræus (the famous harbor of
Athens). The Monkey, supposing that a man was meant, and being obliged
to support his previous lie, answered that he knew him very well, and
that he was an intimate friend, who would, no doubt, be very glad to see
him. The Dolphin, indignant at these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey under
the water, and drowned him.

He who once begins to tell falsehoods is obliged to tell others to make
them appear true, and, sooner or later, they will get him into trouble.