The Ant and the Grasshopper

During the wintertime, an ant was living off the grain that he had stored up for himself during the summer. The grasshopper came to the ant and asked him to share some of his grain. The ant said to the grasshopper, 'And what were you doing all summer long, since you weren't gathering grain to eat?' The grasshopper replied, 'Because I was busy singing I didn't have time for the harvest.' The ant laughed at the grasshopper's reply, and hid his heaps of grain deeper in the ground. 'Since you sang like a fool in the summer,' said the ant, 'you better be prepared to dance the winter away!'

There's a time for work and a time for play.

The Farmer and the Sea

A farmer saw a ship and her crew about to sink into the sea as the ship's prow disappeared beneath the curl of a wave. The farmer said, 'O sea, it would have been better if no one had ever set sail on you! You are a pitiless element of nature and an enemy to mankind.' When she heard this, the sea took on the shape of a woman and said in reply, 'Do not spread such evil stories about me! I am not the cause of any of these things that happen to you; the winds to which I am exposed are the cause of them all. If you look at me when the winds are gone, and sail upon me then, you will admit that I am even more gentle than that dry land of yours.'

The Wolf and the Lamb

A wolf once saw a lamb who had wandered away from the flock. He did not want to rush upon the lamb and seize him violently. Instead, he sought a reasonable complaint to justify his hatred. 'You insulted me last year, when you were small' said the wolf. The lamb replied, 'How could I have insulted you last year? I'm not even a year old.' The wolf continued, 'Well, are you not cropping the grass of this field which belongs to me?' The lamb said, 'No, I haven't eaten any grass; I have not even begun to graze.' Finally the wolf exclaimed, 'But didn't you drink from the fountain which I drink from?' The lamb answered, 'It is my mother's breast that gives me my drink.' The wolf then seized the lamb and as he chewed he said, 'You are not going to make this wolf go without his dinner, even if you are able to easily refute every one of my charges!'

The tyrant can always find an excuse for his tyranny.

The North Wind and the Sun

The Sun and the North Wind were quarrelling with each other as to which of the two of them would be able to make a man disrobe. The North Wind went first, blowing fiercely against the man. Yet as the man grew colder and colder, he only wrapped himself up more snugly in his cloak, clutching at it tightly so as to keep a firm grip no matter how hard the wind might be blowing. Thus the North Wind did the man no harm at all and failed to make him strip off his clothes. Next, the Sun began to shine upon the man so brightly that the very air of the day grew hotter and hotter. The man immediately took off his cloak and bundled it up on his shoulders.

Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.