The mill feeders of a great mill--the stomach--met together to talk over their trials.

The hands said, "We are tired of carrying grist to the door of the greedy mill. We would rather spend all our time painting pictures or writing books."

"We were made for talking and singing," said the lips, "but much of our time has to be spent in taking grist for the mill."

"And we," said the teeth, "give our life to crushing the grist which is brought to the mill. We are wearing out in its service, but what thanks do we get?"

"I have never had a holiday," said the tongue. "I do not mind talking, but I do not like to work for the mill. Three times a day or oftener, I must help the teeth to prepare the grist. I am tired of it."

The gullet said, "My whole life is given up to carrying the grist to the mill. I do not like such work. Let the mill feed itself. It has no business to work us to death."

"Let us all stop work," cried the mill feeders. "We will stop at once;"

and so the mill shut down.

Many hours after, the lips said, "How strange that we should not feel like talking now that we have nothing else to do!"

The hands said, "We are too weak to paint or to write. We never felt so tired before."

The tongue became parched and all the mill feeders were unhappy.

More hours pa.s.sed; then the mill feeders held another meeting. It was a short, quiet, earnest meeting.

"We have been fools," they all said. "The mill was working for us while we were working for it. Our strength came from the grist which we sent to it. We can do nothing without the help of the mill. Let us go to work again. If the mill will only grind for us, we will gladly furnish the grist."

THE FARMER AND HIS SONS

"Boys, why are you always quarreling? That is no way to live," said a farmer to his sons one day.

The sons would not listen to their father. Each wanted the best of everything. Each thought the father did more for the others than for him.

The father bore the quarreling as long as he could. One day he called his seven sons to him. He had in his hand a bundle of seven sticks.

"I wish to see which one of you can break this bundle of sticks," he said.

The oldest one tried first. He was the strongest, but he could not break it though he used all his strength. Then each of his brothers tried hard to break the bundle. None of them could break it.

At last they gave the bundle of sticks back to their father, saying, "We cannot break it."

The father untied the bundle and gave each son one stick.

"Now see if you can break the sticks," said their father.

They all said, "That is very easily done," and they held up the broken sticks.

"Now tell us why you asked us to break these sticks," said the sons.

"Do you not see," replied the father, "that if you all stand together, nothing can harm you; but if each of you stands by himself, you may easily be ruined?"

THE FOUR OXEN AND THE LION

"Those oxen are too good friends to suit me," said a hungry lion. "They are never far apart, and when I am near them they turn their tails to one another and show long sharp horns on every side. They even walk down to the river together when they become thirsty. If I could catch one of them by himself, I should have a feast."

But one day the oxen had a quarrel.

"The gra.s.s is freshest over in the valley," said one of them. "Let us go there."

"Oh, I don't like the gra.s.s there," said another. "It is better on the side of the hill. Let us spend the day there."

"I do not want to climb the hill," said the third ox. "The gra.s.s right here suits me best."

"I do not like any of the places of which you speak," said the fourth ox. "Come with me and I will find you the best gra.s.s you ever tasted."

"I am going to the valley," said the first ox. "You three may go where you please."

"And I shall go to the hill," said the second ox. "I think you are mean not to go with me."

"And I," said the third ox, "shall stay right here. You may all be sorry if you leave me. The lion may catch you."

"I am not afraid of the lion," said the fourth ox; "and if none of you will go with me, I shall go by myself to hunt a better pasture than any of you can find. I am older than you and I know where the best gra.s.s grows. You had better follow me."

"We will not do it," said the other three oxen. "You are not our leader if you are older."

So the four oxen separated. One went to the valley. The lion was down by the river and saw him coming. He waited quietly until the ox was very near; then he pounced upon him and killed him.

Then the lion looked about for the other oxen. One of them was feeding on the hill. He saw the lion coining, but, he could not get away. He could not defend himself with only one pair of horns; so he too was killed.

As the other two oxen were far apart, it was an easy matter for the lion to kill them also. And that is the way the quarrel ended.

THE HUNTER AND THE FARMER

"Are you afraid of a lion? I am not. There is nothing that I should like better than to meet one," said a man to his neighbor whose calf the lion had killed. "To-morrow morning I will go out and hunt for this fierce lion, which is doing so much harm. If he is anywhere about, I shall find him and kill him, and thus rid the village of fear."

The next morning the man started out alone to hunt the lion. He had, a gun and a sword. He looked so brave as he started off that the people in the village said, "What a blessing it is to have so fearless a man in our village! He will keep us from harm."

He walked several miles. At last he came near a jungle. He thought that the lion might have his home there. He asked a farmer whom he met if he had seen the tracks of a lion.