The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-09-07
The Way of the World.
A PRETTY LITTLE STORY WHICH INVOLVES
FABLE OR TWO.


but he could find no trees so long and
straight and slender as he wanted, till
he came high upundera heap Of stones.
There he heard groans and moans as
though some one was at deaths door.
So he went up TO see who it was that
needed help, and then be heard that
the noise came from under great fiat
stone which lay upon the heap. 1t
was so heavy it would have taken many
a man to lift il. But the man went
down again in the wood and cut down
a tree, which he turned into lever,
and with that he tilted up the stone,
aud 10 out from under it crawled
dragon, and made at the man to swal-
low him up. But the man said he had
saved the dragons life, and it was
shameless thanklessness in him to want
to eat him.
"May be-" said the dragon ''but
you might very well know l must be
starved when I have been hundreds of
years under the stoneand never tasted
meat. Besides,its the way of the world
that's how itsspays its debts"
The man pleaded his cause stoutly
and begged for his life and at last
they agreed to take the first living
thing that came for daysman, and
his doom went the other way the man
should not lose his life, but if he said
the same as the dragon, the dragon
should eat the man.
| The first that came was an old hound,
who ran along the road down below
under the hillside. Him they spoke to
and begged him to Judge.
"God knows" said the hound, IL
have served my master truly since /
was little whelp. / have watched
and watched many night through,
while be lay warm asleep on his ear,
and have saved house and home from
fire and thieves more than once but
now l can neither see nor hear any
more, he wants TO shoot me. And so /
must run away, and stink from house
TO house, and beg for my living till l
die of hunger. No it's the way of
the world" said the hound ''that's the
way it pays its debts"
"Now / am coming to eat you up"
said the dragon, and tried to swallow
the man again. But the man begged
and prayed hard for his life, till they
agreed to take the next conner for a
Judge And if he said the same as the
dragon and the hound, the dragon was
to eat him and get meal of mans
meat; but if he did not say so, the man
was to get off with his life.
| So there came an old horse limping
down the road which ran under the
hill. Him they called out to come and
settle the dispute. Yes he was quite
ready to do that.
| "Now have served my MASTER"
said the horse, ''as long as Icould draw
or carry. have shaved and striven
for him till the sweat trickeled from
every hair, and have worked till
have grown lame and halt and worn
out with toll and age; now am fit
for nothing | am not worth my food,
and 80 / am to have bullet through
me, he says, Nay |! Nay It's the way
of the world. That's how the world
pays its debts"
"Well, now I'm coming to eat you,"
said the dragon, who gaped wide and
wanted to swallow the man. But he
begged again hard for his life.
But the dragon said he must have a
mans meat he was so hungry he
couldn't bear it any longer.
"See FOUNDER comes one who looks
as If he was sent to be judge between
us, '" said the man, as he pointed to Ry-
nard the fox, who came stealing be.
tween the stones of the heap.
"All good things are three" said the
man ''let me ask him, too, and if be
gives doom like the others, eat me up
on the spot"
every well" said the dragon. He,
too, had heard that all good things
were three, and so it should be bar
gain. So the man talked to the fox as
he had talked to the other.
| eyes, yes, said Reynard 81 see how
it all is" but as he said this he took the
man little to one side
| "What will you give me if free you
from the dragon 7" he whispered in the
mans ear.
"You shall be free to come to my
house, and to be lord and master over
my hens and geese, every Thursday
might, said the man. -.'
| "Well, my dear dragon" said Rev
nard, "this is a very hard nut to crack
| can't get it into my head how you
who are 30 big and mighty a beast,
could find room to lie under yon
stone,
| Cant You p said the dragon; swell,
| lay nIder the hillside, and summed
myself, and down came landslide and
hurled the stone over me.
i "All very likely, dare say said
Reynard "but still can't understand
it, and, what's more ! won't believe it
till see it,"
So the man said they had better
! prove it, and the dragon crawled down
into the hole again but in the twink
ling OF an eye they whipped out the
lever and down the stone crashed on
the dragon
Lie now there till doomsday," said
the fox, "You would eat the man,
would you, who saved your life p
, The dragon moaned and groaned,
! and begged hard to come out but
the two went their way, and left him
alone.
The very first Thursday night Rey
nard come to be lord and master oveI
the henroost, and hid himself behind {
, great pile of wook hard by. When Tn,
: maid went out to feed the fowls, il
stole Reynard, She neither saw no,
e heard anything of him hut her bach
a was scarce turned before he had suck
ed blood enough for week, and stuff
ed himself so that he couldn't stir 5,
when she come again in the morning
E there Reynard lay, and snored, an,
D slept in the morning sun, with all fou
! legs stretched straight and he wa
Q as sleek and round as German san
I sage
!. Away ran the lassie for the goody
n and she came, and all the lsssips will