FABLES. 



217 



THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE. 



A Villager found a Snake under a hedge, almost 

 dead with cold. Having compassion on the poor 

 creature, he brought it home, and laid it upon the 

 hearth near the fire, where it had not lain long be- 

 fore it revived with the heat, and began to erect 

 itself, and fly at the wife and children of its pre- 

 server, filling the whole cottage with its frightful 

 hissings. The Countryman hearing an outcry, 

 came in, and perceiving how the matter stood, took 

 up a mattock, and soon dispatched the ingrate, 

 upbraiding him at the same time in these words: 

 Is this, vile wretch, the reward you make to him 

 that saved your life? Die, as you deserve; but a 

 single death is too good for you. 



VOL. IV. 2 F 



