THE TWO POTS.

AN Earthen Pot and one of Brass, standing together upon the river's brink, were both carried away by the height of the tide. The Earthen Pot showed some uneasiness, as fearing he should be broken; but his companion of Brass bid him be under no apprehensions, for that he would take care of him. "Oh," replies the other, "keep as far off as you can, I entreat you; it is you I am most afraid of: for, whether the stream dashes you against me, or me against you, I am sure to be the sufferer; and therefore, I beg of you, do not let us come near one another."

MORAL. Do not make all whom you meet friends.

APPLICATION. The interpreters of these fables deduce from this narrative a caution against incongruous and unequal friendships made between men widely separated from each other by wealth and station. It cannot be doubted that a friend is best sought among equals. He should not be too high, lest he expect flattery; nor too low, lest he submit to patronage or oppression. But the true moral, which best adapts itself to all the circumstances of the fable, is to receive it as conveying advice in regard to the treatment of casual acquaintances. The brazen and the earthen vessels were only temporary companions, thrown together by chance. The advice which the author would convey corresponds with the old Latin proverb, "Ne cuivis dexteram injeceris." Offer not your hand to every one you meet. Admit not every passing stranger lightly and unreservedly to your intimacy. The same advice Polonius gives to his son Laertes:

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel:
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.

The quiet friend, all one in word and deed,
Great comfort is, like ready gold at need.

THE FOX invited the Stork to dinner, and, being disposed to divert himself at the expense of his guest, provided nothing for the entertainment but a soup, in a wide, shallow dish, which he could lap up with the greatest ease; but for which the Stork, who could but just dip in the point of his bill, was not a bit the better all the while. The Stork in a few days returned the compliment, and invited the Fox to dinner, but suffered nothing to be brought to table but some minced meat in a glass jar, the neck of which was so deep and so narrow, that all the Fox, who was very hungry, could do, was to lick the

brims, and to pick up the crumbs as the Stork dropped them in eating. Reynard was heartily vexed at first, but, when he came to take his leave, owned ingenuously that he had been used as he deserved, and that he had no reason to take any treatment ill of which he had himself set the example.

MORAL. Practical jokes are often returned in

kind.

APPLICATION. "A good joke bites like a lamb:" it is innocent enough; but practical jokes are always to be avoided. They are generally distinguished by poverty of invention, want of taste, vulgarity of manners, and deficiency of judgment, and too often lead to retaliation, which creates mischief and bad feeling. If they are indulged in, and then repaid in kind, the wisest course is to treat them with the mutual good humour displayed by the parties respectively described in this fable.

But many times rough jokes such rancour breed,
That they who laughed at first, soon after bleed.

A BEAR, climbing over the fence into a place where Bees were kept, began to plunder the Hives, and rob them of their honey. But the Bees, to revenge the injury, attacked him in a whole swarm together; and though they were not able to pierce his rugged hide, yet, with their little stings, they so annoyed his eyes and nostrils, that, unable to endure the smarting pain, with impatience he tore the skin over his ears with his own claws, and suffered ample punishment for the injury he did the Bees in breaking open their waxen cells.