As generations have learned from these ancient animal stories, fine feathers don't necessarily make fine birds, slow and steady helps win the race, and it's a mistake to count your chickens before they're hatched. Twenty-four timeless fables, recounted in verse, are complemented by distinctive wood engravings featuring black-and-red silhouettes of the legendary creatures.
Readers of all ages will delight in tales of the lordly lion whose generosity is repaid by a tiny mouse, the miser who destroys his own good fortune by killing the goose that laid golden eggs, and the greedy dog who loses his ill-gotten gains because he's jealous of his own reflection. Many of the fables are accompanied by charming poems that note the healing power of song, the futility of quarrels, the worth of kindly deeds, and other sage advice.
Dover (2014) republication of the edition originally published by John Martin's Book House, New York, 1924.
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John Martin was the pseudonym of Morgan van Roorbach Shepard (1865?1947) who began writing children's stories and verse while recovering from an injury sustained during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He founded an independent publishing house for his own work and served as Juvenile Director for the National Broadcasting Company.

Artist George L. Carson frequently collaborated with John Martin and is best known for illustrating the original dust jacket for Gone with the Wind. He also illustrated several Uncle Wiggily books and Harlan Ellison comics.