so humbly, an oyster opened her shell and took it to her bosom. And fate so shaped its course that in the end it became a famous royal pearl.
(Sadi, The Burstan.)
THE VULTURE AND THE KITE
A VULTURE said to a Kite, "No one can see as far as I." "That may be so," replied the Kite, "But what can you see yonder across the desert?" Gazing down from the lofty height in the skies, to which he had risen, the Vulture exclaimed, "Yonder on the ground I see a grain of wheat!" Thereupon the two birds flew down to the ground. As the Vulture swooped down upon the grain of wheat, he found himself caught in a trap. "What good did it do you," asked the Kite, "to see the grain of wheat from so far off, if you could not also see the trap that your enemy had set?" "Alas," replied the captive Vulture, "no amount of caution will protect us against fate!"
The unexpected will sometimes happen.
(Sadi, The Burstan.)
THE GREEDY CAT
IN former times there lived a certain old woman who was very, very poor. This old woman had a Cat that never had meat or a crust of bread, and thought herself lucky if once in a while she managed to catch a mouse. One day, when this hungry Cat managed
