Æsop's fables in words of one syllable

Chapter 54: THE OLD DAME AND HER MAIDS.

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About This Book

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.

THE OLD DAME AND HER MAIDS.

In the good old times, when there were no clocks, an old dame kept a cock in her yard, which at dawn of day gave a loud crow, and then she got up to rouse her maids, that they might go to their work. But they thought it hard to be woke out of their sweet sleep at such an hour, so, one day, they wrung the cock’s neck. The next night the old dame slept till late, as she had not heard the cock crow; but when she found that he was dead, and that there was now no means by which to tell the time, she went at all hours of the night to wake up her maids, for fear they should sleep too long.

Strive to mend, and you will oft times mar what’s well.