CHAPTER XXVI.

BOASTING.

I can hardly tell the reason, but the fact
seems to be, that the ass, an honest and
somewhat stupid animal, appears to have
given rise to more fables than any other
beast, except the fox. I have myself told
some fables in which this long-eared person-
age is made to utter a great many wise
things, but I am now going to tell two
fables, in which the creature is represented as
talking rather foolishly.

A man was once going along the road
with an ass, whom he treated somewhat
roughly, upon which the beast first whisked

i2