“Where do you like best to feed your flocks?” said a man to an old cow-herd. “Here, sir, where the grass is neither too rich nor too poor, or else it is no use.” “Why not?” asked the man. “Do you hear that melancholy cry from the meadow there?” answered the shepherd, “that is the bittern; he was once a shepherd, and so was the hoopoe also,— I will tell you the story. The bittern pastured his flocks on rich green meadows where flowers grew in abundance, so his cows became wild and unmanageable. The hoopoe drove his cattle on to high barren hills, where the wind plays with the sand, and his cows became thin, and got no st............