FABLES.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 2, Issue 41, 18 July 1850, Page 3

FABLES.

Among the early nations of the world, — especially amongst those who held in bondage the slaves they had taken in war, —there existed a round-about method of communicating grc'at man, who would unhesitatingly have put to death any subject bold enough to point out his vicious actions and the manner in which he could and should correct them, would listen with (he utmost eagerness to narratives in which the scene of action and the imaginary actors were removed to a distance from home, rind in which the lesson sought to be inculcated carried no wound to the vanity or sell-love of the auditor. In listening to a fable, tyrants saw nothing of the satirist who probed but to heal them. The Fable gave them an agreeable hint of the duties and relations of lite, not an harangue on their own want of sense and decorum, They fell none of the superiority of the fabulist, who left them to make the application of their instructive story in their own way, and if they (and we also) did sometimes prefer to apply it to their neighbour's case instead of their own, they were still informed and amended, inasmuch as they had learned to despise som i vice or folly which their unassisted judgment might have overlooked or sanctioned. The origin of fables is of a date much too old to l.e traced ; hut they are a species of composition admirably calculated to make lasting impressions on the minds of nil persons ; but especially these which arc uninformed and uncultivated, and to convey to them moral instruction in the most ngreqable form. Hence it is that fables cnj-iy such great popularity not only with children, but among all rude and partially civilized people :—the same moans of instruction which in one state of

society are usdil for tlie information of men, being left, in a more advanced slate, to perform the game oflice for children. Fables were originally intended and have always been used to enforce the precepts of viitue and morality, not merely upon children, but upon mankind at large. They were the first pieces of wit that made their appearance in the world, and liavc been valued quite as much in the most polite ages as in the times of the greatest simplicity. There is oiie class of fables, called emblem - atical fililes, in which beasts and birds, and even trees nnd other inanimate substances are made to speak and act. This class of fable is said to be of oldest date, and it is assumed that the idea of making dumb animals the heroes of a tale, was a d xterous schemo of ./Esop, one of the greatest fable writers of antiquity, and who as the slave of a despotic master was compelled to veil the great moral truths lie inculculaled under the most extravagant forms. There is something, however so captivating in imagining such a thing as a dialogue between a cock anil a fox that, this species of fable is perhaps amongst the .most favourite of all its varieties. We have for- 1 Innately been able to obtain an excellent collection of these fables, and having written i quite enough to afford nn insight into their | nature and character we now proceed to fur* nish you with an example ;—a practice which we shall continue through each succeeding 1 number of this paper. ] TIIE FARMER AND HIS SONS. ItY DADSLAY. A wealthy old farmer, who had for some time declined in health, perceiving that. ho > had-not nrtny days to live, called his sons to- it gether to his bedside. " Aly dear chi dren," j said the dying man, " I le.ive it with you as t my last injunction, not to pnrt with the farm " which has been iu our family these hundred fc

ve.ua ! lor, to disclose to you j. secret which 1 received Iron, my rather, nml winch I now think proper to communicate to yon, there is n ■rc'un- hid somotth.-re in the grounds, thoM.d. I never ould discov.-r the reticular «,i■twheie it li-'s concealed. However, as fu.m as the harvest is g.-t in, spnre mM«'« s "; the se.-.rch, an.l I «m well assured you mil not lose ,-„„ - l.,bi>ur." The wise old man was no sooner laid in his grave, and the tunc he iiioniDiii-d nnived, than his sons went to woik, and v.'th great vigour and alacrity liniied uii again and again cvrcy foot ol ground bcloiigiii:,' to their farm j the consequence of which was, although they did not find the object of their pursuit, that I heir lands yielded a far more plentiful crop than those uf their neighbours. At the end of (he vi-ar when they were settling their accounts, ami computing their extraordinary V ro » ts - " l would venliire a wager," said one of the brothels more acute than the resi, " that this was the wealth my lather meant. lam sure, at least, we have found by experience—' that industry is itself a treasure."

■\Vc hope we nred not point a moral, or application, to ibis Inb'c. We know the native industry of New Zealand well. The people also know that industry leads to wealth and that wealth insures both comfort and respect. Their harvest ha 3 long been got in now then is the lime to dig for concealed treasure. AVe feel confident that that lime will not pass by neglected, but Hhal with the end of the year great profits will be guthercd.