Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/270

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208
Anianus's FABLES.



Fab. CCXXXIX.

A Crow and a Pitcher.

A Crow that was Extream Thirſty, found a Pitcher with a Little Water in’t, but it lay ſo Low he could not come at it. He try’d firſt to Break the Pot, and then to Over-turn it, but it was both too Strong, and too Heavy for him. He Bethought Himſelf However of a Device at laſt that did his Bus'neſs; which was, by Dropping a great many Little Pebbles into the Water, and Raiſing it That Way, till he had it within Reach.

The MORAL.

There is a Natural Logick in Animals, over and above the Inſtinct of their Kinds.

REFLEXION.

'TIS a Kind of a School Queſtion that we find ſtarted in This Fable, upon the Subject of Reaſon and Inſtinctt: And whether This Deliberative Proceeding of the Crow was not rather a Logical Agitation of the Matter, then the Bare Analogy, as we call it, of a Simple Impulſe. It will be Objected, that we are not to Draw Concluſions from the Fictions of a Caſe, but whoever Conſtiſts his Experience, may ſatisfie Himſelf in many Inſtances that come up to This Suppoſition. We are alſo taught, that what we cannot Compaſs Directly, by the Force of Natural Faculties, may be brought to paſs many times by Art and Invention.




Fab. CCXL.

A Lyon and a Man.

THere was a Controverſie Started betwixt a Lyon and a Man, which was the Braver, and the Stronger Creature of the Two. VVhy look ye, ſays the Man (after a Long Diſpute) we'll Appeal to That Statue there, and ſo he ſhew'd him the Figure of a Man Cut in Stone, with a Lyon under his Feet. VVell! ſays the Lyon, if We had been brought up to Painting and Carving, as You are, where you have One Lyon under the Feet of a Man, you ſhould have had Twenty Men under the Paw of a Lyon.

The