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THE DOVE.
He who is born a prince, should not act like a beggar-boy: a man who is high in rank ought not to set a bad example to those below him, for the little jackass learns from the big one to eat straw. It is no wonder therefore that Heaven sends him troubles by bushels, as happened to a prince, who was brought into constant trouble for ill-treating and tormenting a poor woman; so that he was near losing his life miserably.
About eight miles from Naples, in the direction of the Astruni[1], there was once a wood of fig-trees and poplars, which the sun's darts shot at, but could never penetrate. In this wood stood a half-ruined cottage, in which dwelt an old woman, who was as light of teeth as she was burdened with years, as high with her hump as she was low in fortune: she had a hundred wrinkles in her face, but a great many more in her purse; and although her
- ↑ A circular valley near the Lago d'Agnano, not far from Naples: it forms a royal deer-park.
