Just as a great Bear rushed to seize a stray kid, a Lion leaped from another direction upon the same prey. I am sure he was just about to speak to me when the monster I have told you about let out a screaming yell, and I ran for my life. But the porter was a huge Dog whom the Wolf knew by painful experience to be very unkind toward wolves. It is a chest of gold lost from some wreck, they cried. Chickens and Geese fell by the score--and the victor always stopped for a feast. When a man decides to do his own work and not depend on any one else, then you may be sure there will be no more delay. No doubt he was hungry, but that was not an excuse for stealing. With each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could drink.
The flatterer lives at the expense of those who will listen to him.