The Young and Field Literary Readers, Book 2. Field Walter Taylor
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 shore of the pond.
Not long after this, a man laid a net to catch the dove.
He pulled it in and found the dove caught fast in it.
The ant saw the man with the net, and ran up his leg and bit him.
"O!" said the man, "what is that?"
He let the net drop to the ground, and the dove flew away.
Next time the dove saw the ant, she said:
"Good ant, you saved my life."
"You saved my life once, and I only tried to pay you back," said the ant.
THE LARK AND HER NEST
A lark had made her nest in a field of wheat.
The wheat was almost ripe.
One day the old lark said to her young ones:
"The men will soon come to cut this wheat. You must watch for them and tell me all you see or hear while I am away."
Then she left them and went to get something for them to eat.
When she came home, she asked,
"Did you see or hear anything?"
"Yes, mother," said the young ones.
"The owner of the field came and looked at the wheat. He said, 'This wheat is ripe. It must be cut at once. I will ask my neighbors to come and help me cut it.'"
"That is good," said the old lark.
"Must we not leave the nest?" asked the young ones.
"No," said the mother. "If the man waits for his neighbors to come and help him, he will wait a long time."
Next day the owner came again.
"This wheat must be cut," said he. "I cannot wait for my neighbors. I must ask my uncles and cousins."
When the old lark came home, the young ones said:
"O, mother! we must leave the nest now.
"The man said that he should ask his uncles and cousins to help him cut the wheat."
"We will not go yet," said the mother. "If he waits for his uncles and cousins, he will wait a long time."
The next day the man came again. His boy was with him.
"We can't wait any longer," he said. "We must cut the wheat ourselves."
Soon the mother lark came home.
The young ones told her what the man had said.
"Now we must be off," she cried. "When a man sets out to do his work himself, it will be done."
So the lark and her young ones left the nest and found another home.
THE DOG AND HIS SHADOW
A dog once had a piece of meat.
He was going home with it.
On the way he had to go across a bridge over some water.
He looked into the water, and there he thought he saw another dog.
The dog looked like himself and had a piece of meat in his mouth, too.
It was his shadow in the water.
"That meat looks good. I want it," said the dog.
"My piece is not big enough. I will take the meat away from that other dog."
So he barked at the other dog.
As he opened his mouth to bark, his piece of meat fell into the water.
"Splash!" it went, and that was the last he ever saw of it.
"If I had let that dog keep his piece of meat, I should not have lost my own," he said.
THE FOX AND THE GRAPES
A hungry fox once saw some sweet grapes hanging over a wall.
"I want those grapes," he said to himself.
So he jumped for them.
He did not get them.
He jumped again.
Still he did not get them.
He jumped again and again.
They were too high.
At last he gave it up and went away.
"I don't want those grapes," he said.
"They are sour grapes. I know they are sour. They are not fit to eat."
POEMS BY MARY MAPES DODGE
FOUR LITTLE BIRDS
Four