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A collection of short, self-contained fables retold in simple monosyllabic language for young readers. Each brief tale stages animal characters in a single situation that leads to a clear outcome and an explicit moral, exploring themes such as honesty, pride, prudence, selfishness, and the consequences of deceit or folly. Lines are spare and direct, often paired with small illustrations, and the arrangement of discrete episodes emphasizes cause-and-effect and memorable aphorisms to make ethical lessons accessible and easy to discuss.
One hot day in June, two men lay down in the shade of a plane tree, to get out of the rays of the sun, and as they lay there, they cast their eyes up to the boughs. “A plane tree bears no fruit,” said one of them. “In good sooth,” quoth his friend, “that seems but a poor tree that is of no use to man!” The plane chid them, and said, “Sirs, you must be as blind as you are base, to come here and lie in the shade I give, and yet rail at me as a thing that is of no use to man.”