The Trumpeter taken Prisoner.


[Illustration]

A Trumpeter, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy.
He cried out to his captors: "Pray spare me, and do not take my life
without cause or without injury. I have not slain a single man of your
troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet."
"That is the very reason for which you should be put to death," they
said, "for while you do not fight yourself, your loud trumpet stirs up
all the other soldiers to battle."

He who incites strife is as guilty as they who strive.




The Fatal Marriage.


The Lion, touched with gratitude by the noble procedure of a Mouse, and
resolving not to be outdone in generosity by any wild beast whatsoever,
desired his little deliverer to name his own terms, for that he might
depend upon his complying with any proposal he should make. The Mouse,
fired with ambition at this gracious offer, did not so much consider