A wise mind from times past found a way to tell old tales with just short words. She took old Greek tales and made them new for boys and girls who were just learning to read.
Each tale in her book used just one beat per word — quite a feat when you think of it. Her book had tales of bold mice, sly fox, and mad wolves that kids knew and loved. When a boy cried "Wolf!" too much, when a fox could not reach some grapes, or when a goose laid eggs of gold — each tale taught a truth in short words words.
Some tales did not make it in her book — like the race of hare and shell friend. But there were still lots of good tales to read. She wrote more books this way too, like the tale of the lone man stuck on an isle.
These days, thanks to folks who put old books on the web, we can still read these smart tales told in short words.
Here's a bit of what she wrote:
THE GNAT AND THE BULL
Once on a time a poor gnat sat on the horn of a bull, and said, "I have made free to rest on the tip of your horn; but if my weight is at all too much for you, pray say so, and I will move off." "I think you are more nice than wise," said the bull. "To tell you the truth, I did not know when you sat down, so I shall not miss you when you think fit to rise up." At this the bull gave his head a toss, and put the gnat to death with his tongue. It is a dull bird that points out her own nest.***
THE COCK AND THE GEM
A cock came down from his roost at break of day, and set up a loud, shrill crow; he then went to work to scratch the ground in search of food for the hens. By and by, what should he turn up but a bright gem. He gave it a kick and said, "Ha! you are a fine thing, no doubt; but, to my mind, one good grain of wheat is worth all the gems in the world."***
THE ASS WITH A LOAD OF SALT
A man drove his ass down to the coast to buy a load of salt, and on his way home the ass fell in the midst of a stream. The salt, of course, did not take long to melt, and so the ass lost his load, and came home fresh and gay. The next day the man set off to the coast for some more salt, and put the load on his ass once more. As they went through the stream, the ass took care to fall down just at the same spot, and thus got rid of his load this time too. But the man, who now saw the trick, made a plan to cure the ass of it. He bought a large load of sponge, and put it on the back of the beast, and drove him, for the third time, to the coast. By and by they came to the stream, when the ass thought to play his old pranks. But the sponge got wet through, and the ass found to his cost that so far from a light load, he had now on his back one which was ten times the weight of the first. If a man cheats me once, shame on him. If he cheats me twice, shame on me.
