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nydus/Short FictionPublic

A collection of all of the short stories and novellas written by Leo Tolstoy.

Page 810 of 2244
Table of Contents

From the New Speller

V

The Vainglorious Cockerel

Two Cockerels fought on a dungheap.

One Cockerel was the stronger: he vanquished the other and drove him from the dungheap.

All the Hens gathered around the Cockerel, and began to laud him. The Cockerel wanted his strength and glory to be known in the next yard. He flew on top of the barn, flapped his wings, and crowed in a loud voice:⁠—

“Look at me, all of you. I am a victorious Cockerel. No other Cockerel in the world has such strength as I.”

The Cockerel had not finished his paean, when an Eagle killed him, seized him in his claws, and carried him to his nest.

VI

The Ass and the Lion

Once upon a time a Lion went out to hunt, and he took with him an Ass. And he said to him:⁠—

“Ass, now you go into the woods, and roar as loud as you can; you have a capacious throat. The prey that run away from your roaring will fall into my clutches.”

And so he did. The Ass brayed, and the timid creatures of the wood fled in all directions, and the Lion caught them.

After the hunting was over, the Lion said to the Ass:⁠—

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