A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his

　　patrimony and had but one good cloak left. One day he happened

　　to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming

　　along a pool and twittering gaily1. He supposed that summer had

　　come, and went and sold his cloak. Not many days later, winter

　　set in again with renewed frost and cold. When he found the

　　unfortunate Swallow lifeless on the ground, he said, "Unhappy

　　bird! what have you done? By thus appearing before the springtime

　　you have not only killed yourself, but you have wrought2 my

　　destruction also."