FABLES. 



289 



THE FLYING FISH AND THE DOLPHIN. 



The Flying Pish, to avoid its enemies, leaves the 

 water, takes wing, and mounts up into the air. 

 The Dolphin is one of the most constant of 

 these enemies; and its velocity through the liquid 

 element, it is said, surpasses that of every living 

 creature, insomuch that as it darts along, the bril- 

 liancy and changeableness of its colours, which 

 cannot be described, appear like the flash of a 

 meteor. A Flying Fish being pursued by a 

 Dolphin, in his eagerness to escape, took too long 

 a flight, and his wings becoming dry, he fell upon 

 a rock, where his death was inevitable. The 

 Dolphin, in the keenness of his pursuit, ran him- 

 self on shore at the foot of the rock, and was left 

 by the wave, gasping in the same condition as 

 the other. Well, says the Flying Fish, I must 



VOL. IV. 2 P 



