fight, so that they might be better marshaled in battle array and
formed into troops, regiments, and battalions. When all this was
done, and the army disciplined, and the herald Mouse had duly
proclaimed war by challenging the Weasels, the newly chosen
generals bound their heads with straws, that they might be more
conspicuous to all their troops. Scarcely had the battle begun,
when a great rout overwhelmed the Mice, who scampered off as fast
as they could to their holes. The generals, not being able to
get in on account of the ornaments on their heads, were all
captured and eaten by the Weasels.

The more honor the more danger.


The Mice in Council

THE MICE summoned a council to decide how they might best devise
means of warning themselves of the approach of their great enemy
the Cat. Among the many plans suggested, the one that found most
favor was the proposal to tie a bell to the neck of the Cat, so
that the Mice, being warned by the sound of the tinkling, might
run away and hide themselves in their holes at his approach. But
when the Mice further debated who among them should thus "bell
the Cat," there was no one found to do it.


The Wolf and the Housedog

A WOLF, meeting a big well-fed Mastiff with a wooden collar about
his neck asked him who it was that fed him so well and yet