The countryman and the serpent coloring page

Description of Coloring Page: snake, animal nature, forked tongue, porridge , bowl of it, boots, seated, spoon, eating

A COUNTRYMAN, as AEsop certifies,

A charitable man, but not so wise,

One day in winter found,

Stretch'd on the snowy ground,

A chill'd or frozen snake,

As torpid as a stake,

And, if alive, devoid of sense.

He took him up, and bore him home,

And, thinking not what recompense

For such a charity would come,

Before the fire stretch'd him,

And back to being fetch'd him.

The snake scarce felt the genial heat

Before his heart with native malice beat.

He raised his head, thrust out his forked tongue,

Coil'd up, and at his benefactor sprung.

" Ungrateful wretch ! " said he, " is this the way

My care and kindness you repay?

Now you shall die." With that his axe he takes,

And with two blows three serpents makes.

Trunk, head, and tail were separate snakes;

And, leaping up with all their might,

They vainly sought to reunite.

Fable Meaning:

'Tis  good and lovely to be kind ;

But charity should not be blind ;

For as to wretchedness ingrate,

You cannot raise it from its wretched state. 

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The carter in the mire coloring page

Description of Coloring Page: country road, farmer, ocean, horses, cart of hay

The phaeton who drove a load of hay

Once found his cart bemired.

Poor man! the spot was far away

From human help retired,

In some rude country place,

In Brittany, as near as I can trace,

Near Quimper Corentan,

A town that poet never sang,

Which Fate, they say, puts in the traveller's path,

When she would rouse the man to special wrath.

May Heaven preserve us from that route!

But to our carter, hale and stout:

Fast stuck his cart; he swore his worst,

And, fill'd with rage extreme,

The mud-holes now he cursed,

And now he cursed his team,

And now his cart and load,

Anon, the like upon himself bestow'd.

Upon the god he call'd at length,

Most famous through the world for strength.

"O, help me, Hercules!" cried he; "for if thy back of yore

This burly planet bore, thy arm can set me free."

This prayer gone up, from out a cloud there broke

A voice which thus in godlike accents spoke:

"The suppliant must himself bestir,

Ere Hercules will aid confer.

Look wisely in the proper quarter,

To see what hindrance can be found ;

Remove the execrable mud and mortar,

Which, axle-deep, beset thy wheels around.

Thy sledge and crowbar take,

And pry me up that stone, or break;

Now fill that rut upon the other side.

Hast done it? ' "Yes," the man replied.

"Well," said the voice, "I'll aid thee now ;

Take up thy whip." "I have . . . but, how?

My cart glides on with ease!

I thank thee, Hercules."

"Thy team," rejoin'd the voice, "has light ado;

So help thyself, and Heaven will help thee too." 

Fable Meaning: Pagans believe that heaven helps those, who help themselves.

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The rat and the oyster coloring page

Description of Coloring Page: rat, seagull, shore, pebbles, oysters, shallow water, ocean waves, nature's trap

A COUNTRY rat, of little brains,

Grown weary of inglorious rest,

Left home with all its straws and grains,

Resolved to know beyond his nest.

When peeping through the nearest fence,

"How big the world is, how immense! "

He cried; " there rise the Alps, and that

Is doubtless famous Ararat."

His mountains were the works of moles,

Or dirt thrown up in digging holes!

Some days of travel brought him where

The tide had left the oysters bare.

Since here our traveller saw the sea,

He thought these shells the ships must be.

"My father was, in truth," said he,

"A coward, and an ignoramus;

He dared not travel: as for me,

I've seen the ships and ocean famous;

Have cross'd the deserts without drinking,

And many dangerous streams unshrinking.'

Among the shut-up shell-fish, one

Was gaping widely at the sun;

It breathed, and drank the air's perfume,

Expanding, like a flower in bloom.

Both white and fat, its meat

Appear'd a dainty treat.

Our rat, when he this shell espied,

Thought for his stomach to provide.

"If not mistaken in the matter,"

Said he, "no meat was ever fatter,

Or in its flavor half so fine,

As that on which to-day I dine."

Thus full of hope, the foolish chap

Thrust in his head to taste,

And felt the pinching of a trap

The oyster closed in haste.

Now those to whom the world is new

Are wonder-struck at every view;

And the marauder finds his match

When he is caught who thinks to catch. 

Fable Meaning: "When the hunter becomes the hunted . . . "

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The dog and his master's dinner coloring page

Coloring Page Description: dogs, cobblestone street, street corner, wooden fence, satchel carry, 

Our eyes are not made proof against the fair,

Nor hands against the touch of gold.

Fidelity is sadly rare,

And has been from the days of old.

Well taught his appetite to check,

And do full many a handy trick,

A dog was trotting, light and quick,

His master's dinner on his neck.

A temperate, self-denying dog was he,

More than, with such a load, he liked to be.

But still he was, while many such as we

Would not have scrupled to make free.

Strange that to dogs a virtue you may teach,

Which, do your best, to men you vainly preach !

This dog of ours, thus richly fitted out,

A mastiff met, who wish'd the meat, no doubt.

To get it was less easy than he thought :

The porter laid it down and fought.

Meantime some other dogs arrive :

Such dogs are always thick enough,

And, fearing neither kick nor cuff,

Upon the public thrive.

Our hero, thus o'ermatch'd and press'd,

The meat in danger manifest,

Is fain to share it with the rest ;

And, looking very calm and wise,

" No anger, gentlemen," he cries :

" My morsel will myself suffice ;

The rest shall be your welcome prize."

With this, the first his charge to violate,

He snaps a mouthful from his freight.

Then follow mastiff, cur, and pup,

Till all is cleanly eaten up.

Not sparingly the party feasted,

And not a dog of all but tasted.

The Fable Meaning: 

 In some such manner men abuse

Of towns and states the revenues.

'The sheriffs, aldermen, and mayor 

Come in for each a liberal share. 

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The fool who sold wisdom coloring page

Description of Coloring Page: marketplace, fools, crowd of people, clown, owl, wigs, money, eye patch, costume, hats,

A FOOL, in town, did wisdom cry ;

The people, eager, flock'd to buy.

Each for his money got,

Paid promptly on the spot,

Besides a box upon the head,

Two fathoms' length of thread.

The most were vex'd but quite in vain,

The public only mock'd their pain.

The wiser they who nothing said,

But pocketed the box and thread.

To search the meaning of the thing

Would only laughs and hisses bring.

Hath reason ever guaranteed

The wit of fools in speech or deed?

'Tis said of brainless heads in France,

The cause of what they do is chance.

One dupe, however, needs must know

What meant the thread, and what the blow

So ask'd a sage, to make it sure.

"They're both hieroglyphics pure,"

The sage replied without delay;

"All people well advised will stay

From fools this fibre's length away,

Or get I hold it sure as fate

The other symbol on the pate.

So far from cheating you of gold,

The fool this wisdom fairly sold."

Fable Meaning: "A fool and his money will soon part"

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The acorn and the pumpkin coloring page

Description of Coloring Page: shadow, pumpkin, acorn and oak, woodland, pumpkin patch, old man, simpleton,

GOD'S works are good. This truth to prove

Around the world I need not move ;

I do it by the nearest pumpkin.

"This fruit so large, on vine so small,"

Surveying once, exclaim'd a bumpkin

"What could He mean who made us all?

He's left this pumpkin out of place.

If I had order'd in the case,

Upon that oak it should have hung

A noble fruit as ever swung

To grace a tree so firm and strong.

Indeed, it was a great mistake,

As this discovery teaches,

That I myself did not partake

His counsels whom my curate preaches.

All things had then in order come;

This acorn, for example,

Not bigger than my thumb,

Had not disgraced a tree so ample.

The more I think, the more I wonder

To see outraged proportion's laws,

And that without the slightest cause;

God surely made an awkward blunder."

With such reflections proudly fraught,

Our sage grew tired of mighty thought,

And threw himself on Nature's lap,

Beneath an oak, to take his nap.

Plump on his nose, by lucky hap,

An acorn fell: he waked, and in

The scarf he wore beneath his chin,

He found the cause of such a bruise

As made him different language use.

" O! O!" he cried; "I bleed! I bleed!

And this is what has done the deed!

But, truly, what had been my fate,

Had this had half a pumpkin's weight !

I see that God had reasons good,

And all His works were understood."

Thus home he went in humbler mood.

Fable Meaning: No mortal man can outwit God.

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The fox the wolf and the horse coloring page

Description of Coloring Page: a fox, wolf and horse depicted in a field, trees, distant hills

A FOX, though young, by no means raw,

Had seen a horse, the first he ever saw:

"Ho! neighbor wolf," said he to one quite green,

"A creature in our meadow I have seen,

Sleek, grand! I seem to see him yet,

The finest beast I ever met."

"Is he a stouter one than we?"

The wolf demanded, eagerly;

"Some picture of him let me see."

" If I could paint," said fox, " I should delight

T' anticipate your pleasure at the sight;

But come; who knows? perhaps it is a prey

By fortune offer'd in our way."

They went. The horse, turn'd loose to graze,

Not liking much their looks and ways,

Was just about to gallop off.

" Sir," said the fox," your humble servants, we

Make bold to ask you what your name may be."

The horse, an animal with brains enough,

Replied, "Sirs, you yourselves may read my name;

My shoer round my heel hath writ the same."

The fox excus'd himself for want of knowledge:

"Me, sir, my parents did not educate, -

So poor, a hole was their entire estate.

My friend, the wolf, however, taught at college,

Could read it were it even Greek."

The wolf, to flattery weak,

Approach'd to verify the boast;

For which four teeth he lost.

The high raised hoof came down with such a blow,

As laid him bleeding on the ground full low.

"My brother," said the fox, "this shows how just

What once was taught me by a fox of wit,

Which on thy jaws this animal hath writ,

'All unknown things the wise mistrust.'"

Fable Meaning: All unknown things, the wise should approach with caution.

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Color in Dolly's friend Teddie

Description of Coloring Page:  girl paper doll, black and white paper dolls to color, Halloween costume, dress-up, teddy bear, mask, costumes for Mardi Gras too

• Grace Drayton creator of Dolly Dingle's friends and relations

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A spring floral wreath for coloring

 

Description of Coloring Page:  flowers, wreath, petals, leaves, ribbon

 

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A portrait of President Lincoln for coloring

 

Description of Coloring Page:  American president, Abraham Lincoln, wreath, suit, portrait of

 

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Color these children playing with masks

Description of Coloring Page:  two coloring pages, one a boy with a rabbit mask, the other a girls with a fox mask, pages for tow dress-up holidays: Halloween and Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), ribbons, faces, portraits of children

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Color a dancing rabbit for Easter

Description of Coloring Page: by Kathy Grimm, polka-dot egg, patterned background, dancing rabbit, floppy ears, big paws

• A simpler version of this rabbit coloring page is here.

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