dess, to console him, said, "But you far excel in beauty and in size. The splendour of the emerald shines, in your neck, and you unfold a tail gorgeous with painted plumage." "But for what purpose have I," said the bird, "this dumb beauty, so long as I am surpassed in song?" "The lot of each," replied Juno, "has been assigned by the will of the Fates—to thee, beauty; to the eagle, strength; to the nightingale, song; to the raven, favourable, and to the crow, unfavourable auguries. These are all contented with the endowments allotted to them."
(Phædrus, Fables, Vol. III, No. 18; Townsend's translation.)
ÆSOP AND THE IMPERTINENT FELLOW
AESOP'S master, having come home earlier than usual, and there being no other slave in the house, Æsop was ordered to get supper ready as fast as he could. So away he ran to light a candle, from which to kindle his fire; but since it still wanted an hour or two of sunset, he had to visit several houses before he could get a light; at last, however, he succeeded, and being in a hurry, he returned directly through the market-place, which was his nearest way home. As he passed along, an Impertinent Fellow in the crowd caught him by the sleeve, bent on cracking a joke at his expense.
"Tell me, Æsop," said he, "what are you doing with a lighted candle at this hour of day? Are you trying to light the sun to bed?"
"No," answered Æsop as he hurried on his way, "I am only looking for a real Man."
An ill-timed jest reveals an empty mind.
(Phædrus, Fables, Vol III, No. 19; from Bussey's Fables, Original and Selected.)
