{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22539/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22539","id":"gutenberg_22539","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22539","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's stories","Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Fables"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards, Jacqueline Jeremy and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nROCK A BYE LIBRARY.\n\nA BOOK OF FABLES\n\nAMUSEMENT FOR GOOD LITTLE CHILDREN.\n\nTAGGARD & THOMPSON, 29 CORNHILL, BOSTON.\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by S. A.\nCHANDLER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Mass.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Rock A Bye Library.]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: A BOOK OF FABLES.]\n\nTHE FOX AND THE COCK.\n\n\nA Fox, one day, saw a Cock on the roof of a barn. \"Come to me, my dear\nMaster Cock,\" said he; \"I have always heard you are such a clever\nfellow; and I want to ask you a riddle.\" Glad to hear himself praised,\nthe foolish Cock came down, and the Fox caught him, and ate him in a\nmoment.\n\n\nThe praise of the wicked is always dangerous.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE GIANT AND THE DWARF.\n\n\nA Dwarf one day met a Giant. \"Let me come with you,\" said he.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Giant.\n\nWhen they met robbers, the Giant beat them with his club; but the\nDwarf got beaten. At last he began to cry; but the Giant said, \"My\nlittle man, if you are not strong you must not go out to battle with a\nGiant.\"\n\nWe must not set ourselves up as equal to people who are greater and\nwiser than we.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE PARTRIDGE AND HER YOUNG.\n\n\nA Partridge lived in a corn-field. \"Mother,\" said one of her Chicks,\n\"we must run away from this field; for I heard the owner say 'I will\nask my neighbors to mow that field to-morrow.'\" The Partridge said\n\"Never mind.\"--\"But,\" said another Chick, \"I since heard him say 'I\nwill mow the field myself.'\"--\"Then,\" said the Partridge, \"we must\nindeed run away; for this man is going to do his own work.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE COCK AND THE JEWEL.\n\n\nAs a Cock was scratching up the straw, in a farm-yard, in search of\nfood for the hens, he hit upon a Jewel that by some chance had found\nits way there. \"Ho!\" said he, \"you are a very fine thing, no doubt, to\nthose who prize you; but give me a barley-corn before all the pearls\nin the world.\"\n\n\nThe Cock, in this, was sensible; but there are many silly people who\ndespise what is precious only because they cannot understand it.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DOG AND THE SHADOW.\n\n\nA Dog was crossing a river, with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he\nsaw his own shadow reflected in the stream below. Thinking that it was\nanother dog, with a piece of meat, he resolved to make himself master\nof that also; but in snapping at the supposed treasure he dropped the\nbit he was carrying, and so lost all.\n\n\nGrasp at the shadow, and lose the substance;--the common fate of those\nwho hazard a real blessing for a visionary good.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DOG AND THE RAT.\n\n\nA great Dog caught a small but thievish Rat. \"O, sir!\" said the Rat,\n\"pray let me go. Next year I shall have grown bigger, and then you can\nkill me.\"--\"No, no,\" said the Dog; \"I have got you now, but next year\nI am not sure of getting you again.\"\n\n\nCheck a small fault at once.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE BEAVER AND THE FLY.\n\n\nA busy little Beaver had been working for months, arranging his house,\nby the river side. \"Why do you take all that trouble?\" said a lazy\nbluebottle Fly; \"I never work.\"--\"That is the reason,\" answered the\nBeaver, \"why so many of you die of cold and hunger, in winter.\"\n\n\nIdleness comes to ruin, at last.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE PEACHES.\n\n\nA Farmer went to town, on a market day, and bought five peaches. He\ngave one to his wife, and one to each of his four sons.\n\nThe next day he said to his sons, \"Well, what have you done with your\npeaches?\"\n\n\"I ate mine,\" said the eldest, \"and kept the stone. I will plant it\nin the ground, that I may have a peach-tree, in time.\"\n\n\"I sold mine,\" said the second son, \"and got so much money for it that\nI can buy six peaches when I go to town.\"\n\n\"I ate mine up directly I got it,\" said the youngest, \"and threw the\nstone away; and mother gave me half of hers.\"\n\n\"I took mine to poor George, our neighbor, who is ill,\" said the third\nson. \"He cannot eat much, and I thought he would like it. He would not\ntake it at first, so I laid it upon his bed, and came away.\"\n\n\nWhich of all these children made the best use of his peach?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE CANARY-BIRD AND THE WASP.\n\n\n\"Why do people not use me as they use you?\" said a Wasp to a Canary.\n\"They make you a cage to live in, and give you seed and water every\nday; and often I see them bring you sugar, and fresh pieces of green\ngroundsel and chickweed. But when I come, they all try to drive me\naway, and very often they even try to kill me; and yet I am handsome\nand graceful to look at. The yellow color on my body is as bright as\nyours, and my shape is very fine.\"\n\n\"That is quite true,\" answered the Canary; \"but when men come to see\nme I treat them to a merry song, while you attack them with your\nsting.\"\n\n\nAs you treat others, others will treat you.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Why does no one play with me, while every one plays with you?\" asked\na cross boy, one day, of his brother.\n\n\"Because I give up to my playfellows, and you beat and abuse them.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE QUARREL AMONG THE BEASTS.\n\n\nOne day the Lion and Tiger fell out. The other beasts stood at a\ndistance, in affright, to see the quarrel between the king of beasts\nand the mighty Tiger. As for the Fox he got as far out of the way as\never he could. But a poor foolish little Fawn, that was always\nrunning away from its mother's side, said, \"I will make them friends\nagain;\" and wanted to run up to them.\n\n\"You had better stay where you are, my young friend,\" said Reynard.\n\nBut the little Fawn would not listen to this good advice. He trotted\nup to the Lion, and wanted to whisper in his ear; but a blow, aimed by\nthe angry king of the beasts at the Tiger, struck the poor Fawn, and\nin a moment he lay dead at the Lion's feet.\n\n\"I thought so,\" said the Fox, as he walked off to a still safer\ndistance. \"Those who meddle in the quarrels of the unruly are sure to\ncome badly off.\"\n\n\nThis fable teaches us that we should keep away from the company of\nthose who love strife and fighting.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DOG WITH HIS MASTER'S DINNER.\n\n\nA Dog had been taught to carry his Master's dinner in a basket, every\nday, to the place where he worked. He was an honest dog, and never\nstole a single bit of it. But one day, as he came along, a great\nnumber of thievish dogs were waiting for him. They fell upon him all\ntogether, snatched the basket from him, and began to eat up the dinner\nas fast as ever they could. The poor Dog tried to defend his basket as\nlong as he could; but he had no chance at all among such a number of\nfoes. At last he said to himself, \"Well, if the dinner must be stolen,\nI may just as well have my share too;\" and he began to eat just as\nfast as the rest. In a minute or two all the dinner was eaten, and the\nDog's hungry Master, who was working in the field, waited for it in\nvain.\n\n\nDid this Dog do right in eating of the dinner? No. For if others do\nwrong, that is no reason why we should do wrong too.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE PIGS.\n\n\n\"We must be very clever fellows,\" said a young Pig. \"We are taken out\nto feed every day, and a boy is kept to look after us.\"\n\n\"Do not deceive yourself,\" said a shrewd old Hog. \"When winter comes\nmost of us will be killed, for the food of man. They do not care about\nus, but they like to eat our flesh.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHILDREN'S BOOKS,\n\nPUBLISHED BY\n\nTAGGARD & THOMPSON,\n\n29 CORNHILL, BOSTON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGood Little Pig's Library.\n\nTo be completed in 12 vols., splendidly Illustrated. 12 cts. Plain. 25\ncts. Colored.\n\nREMARKABLE HISTORY OF FIVE LITTLE PIGS.\n\nTHE WONDERFUL HISTORY OF THREE LITTLE KITTENS.\n\nMISTER FOX.\n\nTHE FROG WHO WOULD AWOOING GO.\n\nGOOD LITTLE PIG'S PICTURE ALPHABET.\n\nLITTLE PIG'S MENAGERIE.\n\nCINDERELLA.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Rock-a-bye Library.\n\nAMUSEMENT FOR GOOD LITTLE CHILDREN.\n\nProfusely Illustrated by Eminent Artists. 6 cts. Plain. 12 cts.\nColored.\n\nNURSERY RHYMES.\n\nRHYMES AND PICTURES.\n\nTHE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.\n\nLITTLE FANNY'S VISIT TO HER GRANDMOTHER.\n\nPOETICAL ROBINSON CRUSOE.\n\nBOOK OF FABLES.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMy Uncle Toby's Library,\n\nConsists of 12 volumes, elegantly Bound, and Illustrated with upwards\nof\n\nSIXTY BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS.\n\n25 cts. per volume.\n\n    ARTHUR ELLERSLIE.\n    REDBROOK.\n    MINNIE BROWN.\n    RALPH RATTLER.\n    ARTHUR'S TEMPTATION.\n    AUNT AMY.\n    THE RUNAWAY.\n    FRETFUL LILLIA.\n    MINNIE'S PIC-NIC.\n    COUSIN NELLY.\n    MINNIE'S PLAYROOM.\n    ARTHUR'S TRIUMPH.","title":"Rock A Bye Library: A Book of Fables: Amusement for Good Little Children","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":1588}