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RUSSIAN FABLES
413

use to me!" And hereupon the Monkey in his vexation flung the Spectacles down upon the ground so violently that they were broken to pieces.

(Krilov, Fables. Adapted from the translation by William R. S. Ralston.)


THE KITE AND THE BUTTERFLY

A PAPER Kite, which some boys were flying until it soared above the clouds, called down from on high to a Butterfly far below in the valley.

"Really and truly, friend Butterfly, I hardly recognized you from way up here. Confess, now, that you envy me when you see how high I am flying!"

"Envy you? No, indeed!" replied the Butterfly, "you have no reason for feeling so proud of yourself! You fly high, to be sure. But you are always tied by a string. Such a life, my friend, is very far from a happy one. As for me, humble though I am, I still can fly where I choose. I should not want to spend all my life as the tool of some one else's foolish amusement!"

(Krilov, Fables. Adapted from the translation by William R. S. Ralston.)


THE COMB

A LOVING mother bought a good, strong Comb, to keep her little boy's hair in order. The child was so pleased with his new present that he would not let it out of his hands. Whether playing games, or learning his alphabet, he was all the time drawing the Comb through his soft, thick, golden curls. And what a wonderful Comb is was! It not only did not pull out his hair, but glided through so smoothly and easily that it never even got caught in it. But at last,