A schoolboy stole a book from one of his school-fellows，and brought it home to his mother．Instead of chastising him，she rather encouraged him in the deed．As time went by the boy，now grown up into a man，began to steal things of greater val...
Two cocks once fought to decide who should be the king of the farmyard．After a long，hard struggle one cock could fight no more．He crept into the darkest corner of the hen house to hide his shame．The winner flew onto the top of the farmhouse，...
As Zengzi's wife set off for the market，her little son followed her crying．Go home．she said to the boy，When I come back，I'll kill the pig for you to eat． When she got back from the market Zengzi wanted to catch the pig and kill it．His w...
A thief coming to steal from a house wanted to stop the barking of a dog by throwing a loaf of bread to him．Away with you！said the dog，I had my suspicions of you before，but this excess of civility assures me that you are a rogue． A bribe in...
An eagle was trying to break up a nut in his beak when a raven landed on a branch beside him．The raven eyed the nut hopefully．You'll never break it like that，he said．If I were you I would fly up in the sky as high as I could，then drop the n...
A man of the state of Zheng wanted to buy a pair of shoes．He measured his feet and put the measurement on a chair．When he set out for the market he forgot to bring it along．It was after he had found the pair he wanted that this occurred to him．...
A rich man lived near a tanner， and not liking the unpleasant smell of the tan－yard，he pressed his neighbour to move． The tanner put off his departure from time to time，saying that he would remove soon .But in fact，he still continued to s...
once upon a time a country mouse invited his cousin，a townmouse，to stay with him for a few days．The country mouse lived alone under a hedge in the corner of afield．His straw－lined home was dry and warm and he lived there simply and safely f...
Whenever King Xuan of the state of Qi ordered his musicians to play yu，an ancient wind instrument consisting of reed pipes，he al－ways insisted on three hundred musicians playing together．Nanguo，an educated man in retirement，asked for perm...
A raven envied a swan the whiteness of her plumage；and，thinking that her beauty was owing to the water in which she lived，deserted the altars where he used to find his livelihood，and betook him-self to the pools and streams．There he plumed...
A donkey once found a lion's skin．He dressed himself up in it and began to run about in the village，frightening everyone he met．Men，women，animals and chickens all fled away as fast as they could．Hee－haw． laughed the donkey．This is b...
Duke Mu of the state of Lu sent his sons to the states of Jin and Chu to occupy high positions in their governments．His minister Li Chu said，If your son is drowning and you send for a man from the state of Yue so far away to come and save the chi...
A miser，to make sure the safety of his property，sold all that he had and converted it into a great lump of gold，which he hid in a hole under the ground，and went continually to visit and inspect it．This roused the curiosity of one of his wor...
A country girl was walking to the market one day，carrying a pail of milk on her head．As she walked along she began to daydream．When I have sold the milk I shall get enough money to buy some eggs，she thought．I can put them to hatch under the...
In the state of Song lived a rich man．A heavy downpour caused the wall of his house to crumble．If the wall is not mended，pointed out his son，we'll certainly have thieves coming in．The old man next door said the same thing．At night，his h...
