Aesop's Fables
Translated by George Fyler Townsend
The Wolf and the Lamb
WOLF, meeting with a Lamb
astray from the fold,
resolved not to
lay
violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the
Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him:
"Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated
the Lamb in a
mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then
said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied
the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf,
"You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet
drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink
to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up,
saying,
"Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every
one of my imputations." The
tyrant will always find a pretext for
his tyranny.
The Bat and the Weasels
A BAT who fell upon the ground and was caught by a Weasel pleaded
to be spared his life. The Weasel refused,
saying that he was by
nature the enemy of all birds. The Bat
assured him that he was
not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. Shortly
afterwards the Bat again fell to the ground and was caught by
another Weasel, whom he
likewise entreated not to eat him. The
Weasel said that he had a special
hostility to mice. The Bat
assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second
time escaped.
It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.
The Ass and the Grasshopper
AN ASS having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly
enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of
melody,
demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such
beautiful voices. They replied, "The dew." The Ass
resolved that
he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.
The Lion and the Mouse
A LION was awakened from sleep by a Mouse
running over his face.
Rising up
angrily, he caught him and was about to kill him, when
the Mouse
piteously entreated,
saying: "If you would only spare
my life, I would be sure to repay your kindness." The Lion
laughed and let him go. It happened
shortly after this that the
Lion was caught by some hunters, who bound him by st ropes to the
ground. The Mouse, recognizing his roar, came gnawed the rope
with his teeth, and set him free, exclaim
"You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you,
expecting to receive from me any repayment of your favor; I now
you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to con benefits on
a Lion."
The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller
A CHARCOAL-BURNER carried on his trade in his own house. One day
he met a friend, a Fuller, and entreated him to come and live
with him,
saying that they should be far better neighbors and
that their
housekeeping expenses would be lessened. The Fuller
replied, "The
arrangement is impossible as far as I am concerned,
for
whatever I should
whiten, you would immediately
blacken again
with your charcoal."
Like will draw like.
The Father and His Sons
A FATHER had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling
among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his
exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration
of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told
them to bring him a
bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he
placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession,
and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all
their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the
faggot, took the sticks
separately, one by one, and again put
them into his sons' hands, upon which they broke them easily. He
then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you are of one
mind, and unite to
assist each other, you will be as this faggot,
uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are
divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these
sticks."
The Boy Hunting Locusts
A BOY was
hunting for
locusts. He had caught a
goodly number,
when he saw a Scorpion, and mistaking him for a
locust, reached
out his hand to take him. The Scorpion, showing his sting, said:
If you had but touched me, my friend, you would have lost me, and
all your
locusts too!"
The Cock and the Jewel
A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a
precious stone and exclaimed: "If your owner had found thee, and
not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy
first
estate; but I have found thee for no purpose. I would
rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world."
The Kingdom of the Lion
THE BEASTS of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He
was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle
as a king could be. During his reign he made a royal
proclamation for a general
assembly of all the birds and beasts,
and drew up conditions for a
universalleague, in which the Wolf
and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag,
the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and
amity. The Hare said, "Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in
which the weak shall take their place with
impunity by the side
of the strong." And after the Hare said this, he ran for his
life.
The Wolf and the Crane
A WOLF who had a bone stuck in his
throat hired a Crane, for a
large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone.
When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised
payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed:
"Why, you have surely already had a sufficient
recompense, in
having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the
mouth and jaws of a wolf."
In serving the
wicked, expect no
reward, and be
thankful if you
escape
injury for your pains.
The Fisherman Piping
A FISHERMAN
skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the
seashore. Standing on a projecting rock, he played several tunes
in the hope that the fish, attracted by his
melody, would of
their own
accord dance into his net, which he had placed below.
At last, having long waited in vain, he laid aside his flute, and
casting his net into the sea, made an excellent haul of fish.
When he saw them leaping about in the net upon the rock he said:
"O you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance,
but now that I have ceased you do so merrily."
Hercules and the Wagoner
A CARTER was driving a wagon along a country lane, when the
wheels sank down deep into a rut. The
rustic driver, stupefied
and
aghast, stood looking at the wagon, and did nothing but utter
loud cries to Hercules to come and help him. Hercules, it is
said, appeared and thus addressed him: "Put your shoulders to the
wheels, my man. Goad on your bullocks, and never more pray to me
for help, until you have done your best to help yourself, or
depend upon it you will
henceforth pray in vain."
Self-help is the best help.
The Ants and the Grasshopper
THE ANTS were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected
in the summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with
famine, passed
by and
earnestly begged for a little food. The Ants inquired of
him, "Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?' He
replied, "I had not
leisure enough. I passed the days in
singing." They then said in
derision: "If you were foolish enough
to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the
winter."
The Traveler and His Dog
A TRAVELER about to set out on a journey saw his Dog stand at the
door stretching himself. He asked him
sharply: "Why do you stand
there gaping? Everything is ready but you, so come with me
instantly." The Dog, wagging his tail, replied: "O, master! I am
quite ready; it is you for whom I am waiting."
The
loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend.
The Dog and the Shadow
A DOG, crossing a
bridge over a
stream with a piece of flesh in
his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that
of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He
immediately let go of his own, and
fiercely attacked the other
Dog to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that
which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and
his own, because the
stream swept it away.
The Mole and His Mother
A MOLE, a creature blind from birth, once said to his Mother: "I
am sure than I can see, Mother!" In the desire to prove to him
his mistake, his Mother placed before him a few grains of
frankincense, and asked, "What is it?' The young Mole said, "It
is a pebble." His Mother exclaimed: "My son, I am afraid that you
are not only blind, but that you have lost your sense of smell.
The Herdsman and the Lost Bull
A HERDSMAN tending his flock in a forest lost a Bull-calf from
the fold. After a long and fruitless search, he made a vow that,
if he could only discover the thief who had
stolen the Calf, he
would offer a lamb in sacrifice to Hermes, Pan, and the Guardian
Deities of the forest. Not long afterwards, as he ascended a
small hillock, he saw at its foot a Lion feeding on the Calf.
Terrified at the sight, he lifted his eyes and his hands to
heaven, and said: "Just now I vowed to offer a lamb to the
Guardian Deities of the forest if I could only find out who had
robbed me; but now that I have discovered the thief, I would
willingly add a full-grown Bull to the Calf I have lost, if I may
only secure my own escape from him in safety."
The Hare and the Tortoise
A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the
Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be swift as the
wind, I will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her
assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and
they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the
goal. On the day appointed for the race the two started
together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on
with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course.
The Hare, lying down by the
wayside, fell fast asleep. At last
waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise
had reached the goal, and was
comfortably dozing after her
fatigue.
Slow but steady wins the race.
The Pomegranate, Apple-Tree, and Bramble
THE POMEGRANATE and Apple-Tree disputed as to which was the most
beautiful. When their
strife was at its
height, a Bramble from
the
neighboring hedge lifted up its voice, and said in a boastful
tone: "Pray, my dear friends, in my presence at least cease from
such vain disputings."
The Farmer and the Stork
A FARMER placed nets on his newly-sown plowlands and caught a
number of Cranes, which came to pick up his seed. With them he
trapped a Stork that had fractured his leg in the net and was
earnestly beseeching the Farmer to spare his life. "Pray save
me, Master," he said, "and let me go free this once. My broken
limb should
excite your pity. Besides, I am no Crane, I am a
Stork, a bird of excellent
character; and see how I love and
slave for my father and mother. Look too, at my feathers--
they are not the least like those of a Crane." The Farmer
laughed aloud and said, "It may be all as you say, I only know
this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you