NCE on a time there was a sheep who stood in the pen to be fattened; so he lived well, and was stuffed and crammed with everything that was good. So it went on, till one day the dairymaid came and gave him still more food, and then she said "Eat away, sheep; you won't be much longer here; we are going to kill you to-morrow."

It is an old saying, that women's counsel is always worth having, and that there is a cure and physic for everything but death. "But after all," said the sheep to himself, "there may be a cure even for death this time."

So he ate till he was ready to burst; and when he was crammed full, he butted out the door of the pen, and took his way to the neighbouring farm. There he