A man who lived a long time ago believed that he could read the
future in the stars. He called himself an Astrologer, and spent
his time at night gazing at the sky.
One evening he was walking along the open road outside the
village. His eyes were fixed on the stars. He thought he saw
there that the end of the world was at hand, when all at once,
down he went into a hole full of mud and water.
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There he stood up to his ears, in the muddy water, and madly
clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb
out.
His cries for help soon brought the villagers running. As they
pulled him out of the mud, one of them said:
"You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to
see what is at your feet! This may teach you to pay more
attention to what is right in front of you, and let the future
take care of itself."
"What use is it," said another, "to read the stars, when you
can't see what's right here on the earth?"
_Take care of the little things and the big things will take care
of themselves._
[Illustration]