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Aesop's Fables Episode 8 · Aesop's Fables

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  The boar and the ass. A little scoundrel of an ass, happening to
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  meet with a boar, had a mind to be arch upon him, and
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  so says he, your humble servant. The boar, somewhat nettled at his
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  familiarity, bristled up to him and told him he was surprised to hear him
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  utter so impudent an untruth, and was going to show his resentment by giving
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  him a rip in the flank, But wisely stifling his passion, he contented
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  himself with saying, go you, sorry, beast, I do not care
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  to foul my tusks with the blood of so base a creature dignity cannot afford
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  to quarrel with its inferiors. The Fox and the goat. A fox,
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  having fallen into a well, could find no means of escape. A goat,
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  overcome with thirst, came to the well, and, seeing the fox,
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  inquired if the water was good. The fox, concealing his sad plight
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  under a merry guise, indulged in the lavish praise of the water, saying
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  it was beyond measure excellent, and encouraged him to descend. The goat,
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  mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, when just as he quenched
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  his thirst, the fox informed him of the difficulty they were both in and
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  suggested a scheme for their common escape. If, said he, you will
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  place your four feet upon the wall and bend your head, I will run
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  up your back and escape, and will help you out on the goat.
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  Readily assenting to this proposal, the fox leaped upon his back, and,
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  steadying himself with the goat's horns, reached in safety the mouth of the well,
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  and immediately made off as fast as he could. The goat upbraided him
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  with the breech of his bargain. When he turned round and cried out,
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  you foolish fellow. If you had as many brains in your head as you
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  have hairs in your beard, you would never have gone down before you had
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  inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to danger from which you had
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  determined upon no means of escape. Look before you leap. The Oxen and
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  the Butchers. The Oxen, once upon a time sought to destroy the butchers,
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  who practiced a trade destructive to their race. They assembled on a certain
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  day to carry out their purpose, and sharpened their horns for the contest one
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  of them, an exceedingly old one, for many a field had he plowed.
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  Thus spoke these butchers. It is true slaughter us, But they do
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  so with skillful hands and with no unnecessary pain. If we get rid of
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  them, we shall fall into the hands of unskillful operators, and thus suffer
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  a double death. For you may be assured that though all the butchers should
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  perish, yet will men ever want beef? Do not be in a hurry
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  to change one evil for another. The horse and his rider a horse soldier
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  took great pains with his charger as long as the war lasted. He looked
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  upon him as his fellow helper in all emergencies, and fed him carefully with
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  hay and corn. When the war was over, he only allowed him chaff
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  to eat, and made him carry heavy loads of wood, and subjected him
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  to much slavish drudgery and ill treatment. War, however, being again proclaimed,
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  the soldier put on his charger its military trappings and mounted, Being clad
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  in his heavy coat of mail. The horse fell down straightway under the weight,
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  no longer equal to the burden, and said to his master, you
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  must now go to the war on foot, for you have transformed me from
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  a horse into an ass. He who slights his friends when they are not
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  needed must not expect them to serve him when he needs them. The dog
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  and the hare. A hound, having started a hare on the hillside,
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  pursued her for some distance, at one time biting her with his teeth as
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  if he would take her life, and at another time fawning upon her as
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  if in play with another dog. The hare said to him, I wish
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  you would act sincerely by me and show yourself in your true colors. If
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  you are a friend, why do you bite me so hard? If you
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  are an enemy, why do you fall on on me? There are no
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  friends whom you know not whether to trust or to distrust. The Fawn and
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  his mother. A young fawn once said to his mother, you are larger
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  than a dog, and swifter and more used to running. Why, then,
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  o mother, are you always in such a terrible fright of the hounds.
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  She smiled and said, I know full well, my son, that
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  all you say is true. I have the advantages you mentioned, But yet
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  when I hear the bark of a single dog, I feel ready to faint.
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  No arguments will give courage to the coward. The lark and her young
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  ones. A lark had made her nest in the young green wheat. The
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  brood had almost grown when the owner of the field, overlooking his crop,
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  said I must send to all my neighbors to help me with my harvest.
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  One of the young larks hurt him and asked his mother to what place they
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  should move for safety. There was no occasion to move yet, my son,
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  she replied. The owner of the field came a few days later and
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  said, I will come myself tomorrow and we'll get in the harvest. Then
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  the larks said to her brood, it is time now to be off.
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  He no longer trusts to his friends, but will reap the field himself.
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  Self. Help is the best help. The bowman and the lion, a
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  very skillful bowman went to the mountains in search of game. All the beasts
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  of the forest fled at his approach. The lion alone challenged him to combat.
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  The bowman immediately let fly an arrow and said to the lion, I
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  send thee my messenger, that from him thou mayest learn what I myself shall
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  be when I assail thee. The lion, thus wounded, rushed away in
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  great fear and on a fox, exalting him to be of good courage and
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  not to run away at the first attack. He replied, you counsel me
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  in vain, for if he sends so fearful a messenger, how shall I
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  abide the attack of a man himself? A man who can strike from a
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  distance is no pleasant neighbor. The boy and the filberts. A boy put
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  his hand into a pitcher full of filberts. He grasped as many as he
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  could possibly hold, but when he endeavored to pull out his hand, he
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  was prevented from doing so by the neck of the pitcher, which was much
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  smaller than his closed hand. Unwilling to lose his filberts, and yet unable
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  to withdraw his hand, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment.
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  A bystander said to him, be satisfied with half the quantity, and you
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  will readily draw out your hand. Do not attempt too much at once.
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  The woman and her hen. A woman possessed a hen that gave her an
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  egg every day. She often thought with herself how she might obtain two eggs
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  daily instead of one, and at last, to gain her purpose, determined
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  to give the hen a double allowance of barley. From that day, the
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  hen became fat and sleek, and never once laid another egg. Competeousness overreacheth
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  itself. The Lamb and the Wolf. A wolf pursued a lamb which fled
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  for refuge to a certain temple. The wolf called out to him and said,
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  the priest will slay you in sacrifice if he should catch you, on
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  which the lamb replied, it would be better for me to be sacrificed in
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  the temple than to be eaten by you. It is safer to be among
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  friends than enemies. The Bear and the Gardener. A gardener who lived alone
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  became discontented and set out one day to seek a friend who would be a
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  suitable companion. He had not gone far when he met a bear, whom
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  he invited to come and live with him. The bear was a very silly
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  one who was also discontented with living alone, so he went home with the
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  gardener very willingly. The gardener provided all the food, and the only service
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  he required of the bear was to keep the flies off his face while he
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  slept in the shade. One day, a fly insisted upon lighting on the
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  gardener's face. Although he was brushed off again and again, the silly bear
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  finally became so enraged that he threw a heavy stone upon it. He killed
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  the fly, but alas he also killed his friend. Better have no friend
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  at all than a foolish one. The heifer and the Ox. A heifer
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  saw an ox hard at work, harnessed to applau and tormented him with the
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  reflections on his unhappy fate in being compelled to labor. Shortly afterward, at
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  the harvest home, the owner released the ox from his yoke, but bound
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  the heifer with cords and led her away to the altar to be slain in
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  honor of the festival. The ox saw what was being done and said to
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  the heifer, for this you were allowed to live in idleness, because you
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  were presently to be sacrificed. The lives of the idol can best be spared.
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  The eagle and the Fox. An eagle and a fox formed an intimate
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  friendship and decided to live near each other. The eagle built her nest in
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  a tall tree, while the fox crept into the underwood and there produced her
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  young. Not long after, when the fox was ranging for food, the
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  eagle, being in want of provision for her young ones, swooped down and
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  seized one of the little cubs, and feasted herself and brood. The fox,
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  on her return, discovering what had happened, was less grieved for the
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  death of her young than for her inability to avenge them. A just retribution,
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  however, quickly fell upon the eagle. While hovering near an altar on
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  which some villagers were sacrificing a goat, she suddenly seized a piece of flesh
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  and carried with it to her nest a burning cinder. A strong breeze soon
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  fanned the spark into a flame, and the eaglets, as yet unfledged and
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  helpless, were roasted in their nest and dropped down dead at the bottom of
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  the tree. The fox gobbled them up. In the sight of the eagle,
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  the tyrant is never safe from those whom he oppresses. The hawk and
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  the nightingale. A nightingale sitting aloft upon an oak was seen by a hawk,
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  who made a swoop down and seized him. The nightingale earnestly besought the
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  hawk to let him go, saying that he was not bit enough to satisfy
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  the hunger of a hawk who ought to pursue the larger birds. The hawk
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  said, I should indeed have lost my senses if I should let go food
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  ready to my hand for the sake of pursuing birds which are not yet even
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  within sight. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
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  The hen and the swallow. A hen, finding the eggs of a viper,
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  and carefully keeping them warm, nourish them into life. A swallow,
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  observing what she had done, said, you, silly creature, Why have
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  you hatched these vipers, which, when they shall have grown, will surely
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  inflict injury on all of us, beginning with yourself. If we nourish evil,
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  it will sooner or later turn upon us. The herdsman and the lost
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  bull. A herdsman tending kind in a forest lost a bull calf from the
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  fold. After a long and fruitless search, he made a vow that if
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  he could only discover the thief who had stolen the calf, he would offer
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  a lamb and sacrifice to the guardian deities of the forest. Not long afterwards,
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  as he ascended a small hillock, he saw at its foot a lion
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  feeding on the calf. Terrified at the sight, he lifted his eyes and
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  his hands to heaven and said, just now, I vowed to offer a
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  lamb to the guardian deities of the forest if I could only find out who
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  had robbed me. But now that I have discovered the thief, I would
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  willingly add a full grown bull to the calf I have lost, and give
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  them both to the guardians of the forest, if I may only secure my
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  own escape from this terrible lion in safety. That which we are anxious to
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  find, we are sometimes even more anxious to escape from when we have succeeded
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  in finding it. The shepherd's Boy and Wolf. A shepherd boy who watched
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  a flock of sheep near a village brought out the villagers three or four times
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  by crying out, Wolf, Wolf, and when his neighbors came to help
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  him, laughed at them for their pains. The wolf, however, did
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  truly come. At last. The shepherd boy, now really alarmed, shouted
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  in an agony of terror, pray, do come and help me. The
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  wolf is killing the sheep. But no one paid any heed to his cries.
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  There is no believing a liar even when he speaks the truth. The
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  hawk, the kite and the pigeons. The pigeons, terrified by the appearance
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  of a kite, called upon the hawk to defend them. He at once
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  consented. When they had admitted him into the coat, they found that he
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  made more havoc and slew a larger number of them in a single day than
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  the kite could possibly pounce upon in a whole year. Avoid a remedy that
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  is worse than the disease. The farmer and the cranes. Some cranes made
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  their feeding grounds on some plow lands newly sown with wheat for a long time.
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  The farmer, brandishing an empty slant, chased them away by the terror
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  he inspired. But when the birds found that the sling was only swung in
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  the air, they ceased to take any notice of it and would not move.
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  The farmer, on seeing this, charged his sling with stones and killed
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  a great number. They at once forsook his plowlands and cried to each other,
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  it is time for us to be off, for this man is no
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  longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in earnest what he
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  can do. If words suffice nut blows must follow the cat and the mice.
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  A certain house was overrun with mice. A cat, discovering this,
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  made her way into it and began to catch and eat them one by one.
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  The mice, being continually devoured, kept themselves close in their holes.
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  The cat, no longer able to get at them, seeved that she must
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  tempt them forth by some device. For this purpose, she jumped upon a
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  peg, and, suspending herself from it, pretended to be dead. When
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  the mice came near, she pounced upon them and killed a great number.
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  Pleased with the success of this trick, she tried another. She whitened herself
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  with flower and lay still on the heap of bags, as though she was
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  one of them. The young mice crept dangerously near her, but an old
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  one, peering stealthily out, said, ah, my good madam, though
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  you should turn into a real flower bag, I will not come too near
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  you avoid even appearance of danger. In a section seven