The Young and Field Literary Readers Part 6

THE TOWN MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE

Once a country mouse asked her cousin, the town mouse, to come and visit her.

The town mouse came, and the country mouse gave her the best she had to eat.

It was only a little wheat and corn.

The town mouse ate some of it.

Then she said:

"Cousin, how can you live on this poor corn and wheat? Come to town with me, and I will give you something good."

So the two mice set off and soon came to town.

The town mouse lived well and had everything she wished for.

She had cake and pie and cheese and everything good to eat.

O, it was so good!

The country mouse was hungry, and she ate and ate and ate.

"How rich my cousin is," she said, "and how poor I am!"

As she said this, there was a great barking at the door.

Then two dogs ran into the room.

They chased the mice about, barking all the time.

At last the mice ran into a hole.

"Good-by, cousin, I am going home," said the country mouse.

"What! Are you going so soon?" asked the other.

"Yes, I do not like that kind of music with my supper. It is better to have corn and wheat and be safe than to have cake and cheese and be always in fear," said the country mouse.

THE WIND AND THE SUN

Once the wind and the sun had a quarrel.

The sun said,

"I am stronger than you."

The wind said,

"No, I am stronger than you."

"Let us see," said the sun. "Here comes a man with a big cloak. Can you make him take it off?"

"Surely I can," said the wind.

"Try," said the sun.

The sun went behind the clouds.

The wind began to blow.

How he did blow!

But the man pulled his cloak close about him.

He did not care for the wind.

At last the wind gave it up.

"Now you try," he said to the sun.

The sun came out from the clouds.

He shone down upon the man.

"How warm it is!" said the man. "I must take off my cloak."

So he took off his cloak.

"You have beaten," said the wind. "You are stronger than I."

THE ANT AND THE DOVE

A little ant once fell into a pond.

A dove was perching in a tree over the water.

The dove saw the ant fall.

She pulled off a leaf with her bill and let it drop into the water.

"There, little ant! get on that leaf, and you will be safe," she said.

The ant jumped upon the leaf, and the wind blew it to the sh.o.r.e of the pond.

Not long after this, a man laid a net to catch the dove.