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Aesop's Fables Episode 7 · Aesop's Fables

• 0:00
  The laborer and the snake. A snake, having made his hole close to
• 0:06
  the porch of a cottage, inflicted a severe bite on the cottager's infant son,
• 0:11
  of which he died, to the great grief of his parents. The
• 0:15
  father resolved to kill the snake, and the next day, on its coming
• 0:19
  out of his hole for food, took up his axe, but making too
• 0:23
  much haste to hit him as he wriggled away, missed his head and cut
• 0:28
  off only the end of his tail. After some time, the cottager,
• 0:32
  afraid lest the snake should bite him, also endeavored to make peace, and
• 0:37
  placed some bread and salt in his hole. The snake said, there can
• 0:41
  henceforth be no peace between us, for whenever I see you, I shall
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  remember the loss of my tale, and whenever you see me, you will
• 0:52
  be thinking of the death of your son. It is hard to forget injuries
• 0:57
  in the presence of him who caused the injury. The Bull and the Calf.
• 1:03
  A bull was striving with all his might to squeeze himself through a narrow
• 1:08
  passage which led to his stall. A young calf came up and offered to
• 1:14
  go before and show him the way by which he could manage to pass save
• 1:19
  yourself the trouble, said the bull. I knew that way long before you
• 1:23
  were born. Do not presume to teach your elders. The goat and the
• 1:33
  ass a man once kept a goat and an ass. The goat, in
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  being the ass, on account of his greater abundance of food, said,
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  how shamefully you are treated, at one time grinding in the mill, and
• 1:47
  at another carrying heavy burdens. And he further advised him that he should pretend
• 1:53
  to be epileptic and fall into a deep ditch, and so obtain rest.
• 1:59
  The ass gave credence to his words, and, falling into a ditch,
• 2:02
  was very much bruised. His master, sending for a leech, asked his
• 2:07
  advice. He bade him pour upon the wounds the blood of a goat.
• 2:12
  They at once killed the goat, and so healed the ass. In injuring
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  others, we are apt to receive a greater injury. The boasting traveler,
• 2:27
  a man who had traveled in foreign lands, boasted very much on returning to
• 2:31
  his own country of the many wonderful and heroic things he had done in the
• 2:37
  different places he had visited. Among other things, he said that when he
• 2:42
  was at roads, he had leaped to such a distance that no man of
• 2:46
  his day could leap anywhere near him. And as to that, there were
• 2:51
  in roads many persons who saw him do it, and whom he could call
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  as witnesses. One of the bystanders, interrupting him, said, now,
• 3:00
  my good man, if this be all true, there is no need of
• 3:04
  witnesses. Suppose this to be roads, And now for your leap, cure
• 3:10
  a boaster by putting his words to the test. The ass, the cock,
• 3:17
  and the lion. An ass and a cock were together when a lion,
• 3:23
  desperate from hunger, approached. He was about to spring upon the ass,
• 3:29
  when the cock, to the sound of whose voice the lion, it
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  is said, has a singular aversion, crowed loudly, and a lion fled
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  away. The ass, observing his trepidation at the mere crowing of a cock,
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  summoned courage to attack him, and galloped after him for that purpose.
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  He had run no long distance when the lion, turning about, seized him
• 3:53
  and tore him two pieces. False confidence often leads into danger. The stag
• 4:01
  and the fawn. A stag grown old and mischievous, was, according to
• 4:09
  custom, stamping with his foot, making offers with his head, and bellowing
• 4:13
  so terribly that the whole herd quaked for fear of him. When one of
• 4:18
  the little fawns coming up, I dressed him. Thus, pray, what
• 4:23
  is the reason that you, who are so formidable at all other times,
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  if you do but hear the cry of the hounds, are ready to fly
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  out of your skin for fear. What you observe is true, replied the
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  stag. Though I know not how to account for it. I am indeed
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  vigorous and able, and often resolve that nothing shall ever dismay my courage.
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  But alas I no sooner hear the voice of a hound, but my spirits
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  fail me, and I cannot help making off as fast as my legs can
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  carry me. The greatest braggards are the greatest cowards. The partridge and the
• 5:06
  fowler. A fowler caught a partridge and was about to kill him. The
• 5:12
  partridge earnestly besought him to spare his life, saying, pray, Master,
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  permit me to live, and I will entice many partridges to you and recompense
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  for your mercy to me. The fowler replied, I shall now with the
• 5:27
  less scruble, take your life because you are willing to save it at the
• 5:31
  cost of betraying your friends and relations. And without more ado, he twisted
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  his neck and put him in his bag with his other game. Those who
• 5:42
  would sacrifice their friends to save themselves from harm are not entitled to mercy.
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  The farmer and the stark. A farmer placed his nets on his newly sowned
• 5:56
  plowlands and caught a quantity of cranes which came to pick up his seed.
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  With them, he trapped a stark also. The stark, having his leg
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  fractured by the net, earnestly, besought the farmer to spare his life.
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  Pray save me, master, he said, and let me go free.
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  This once, my broken limb should excite your pity. Besides, I am
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  no crane. I am a stark, a bird of excellent character. And
• 6:24
  see how I love and slave from my father and mother. Look to it
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  by feathers, they are not the least like to those of a crane.
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  The farmer laughed aloud and said, it may be all as you say.
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  I only know this. I have taken you with these robbers, the cranes,
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  and you must die in their company birds of a feather flock together the
• 6:51
  ass and his driver. An ass, being driven along the high road,
• 6:58
  suddenly started off and bolted to the brink of a deep precipice. When he
• 7:02
  was in the act of throwing himself over, his owner seized him by the
• 7:08
  tail, endeavoring to pull him back. The ass persisted in his effort.
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  The man let him go and said, conquer, but conquer to your cost.
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  The perverse generally come to harm. The hare and the hound. A
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  hound, having started a hare from his form, after a long run,
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  gave up the chase. A goatherd, seeing him stop, mocked him,
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  saying, the little one is the best runner of the two. The hound
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  replied, you do not see the difference between us. I was only running
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  for a dinner, but he for his life. Incentive spurs effort. The
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  kites and the swans, the heights of old time had equally with the swans
• 8:03
  the privilege of song. But having heard the neigh of the horse, they
• 8:07
  were so enchanted with the sound that they tried to imitate it, and in
• 8:11
  trying to neigh, they forgot how to sing. The desire for our imaginary
• 8:18
  benefits often involves the loss of present blessings. The dog in the manger.
• 8:26
  A dog lay in a manger, and by his growling and snapping prevented the
• 8:33
  oxen from eating the hay which had been placed for them. What a selfish
• 8:37
  dog, said one of them to his companions. He cannot eat the hay
• 8:41
  himself, and yet he refuses to allow those to eat who can. We
• 8:46
  should not deprive others of blessings because we cannot enjoy them ourselves. The Crow
• 8:54
  and the serpent. A crow in great want of food, saw a serpent
• 9:00
  and a sunny nook, and, flying down, greedily seized him. The
• 9:05
  serpent, turning about, bit the crow with a mortal wound. The crow,
• 9:09
  in the agony of death, exclaimed, Oh, unhappy me, who
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  were found in that which I deemed a most happy windfall, the source of
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  my certain destruction. What seemed to be blessings are not always so. The
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  Cat and the fox. As the cat and the fox were talking politics together,
• 9:33
  Reynard said, let things turn out ever so bad. He did not
• 9:37
  care, for he had a thousand tricks for them yet before they should hurt
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  him. But pray, says he, missus Puss, suppose there should be
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  an invasion. What course do you design to take? Nay, says the
• 9:52
  cat. I have but one shift for it, and if that won't do,
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  I am undone. I am sorry for you, replied eyes Reynard with
• 10:01
  all my heart, and would gladly help you. But indeed, neighbor,
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  as times go, it is not good to trust. We must even be
• 10:09
  everyone for himself. As the saying is. These words were scarcely out of
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  his mouth when they were alarmed with a pack of hounds that came upon them
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  in full cry. The cat, by the help of her single shift,
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  ran up a tree and sat securely among the top ranches. From whence she
• 10:28
  beheld Reynard, who had not been able to get out of sight, overtaken
• 10:33
  with his thousand tricks, and torn in as many pieces by the dogs which
• 10:39
  has surrounded him. A little common sense is often of more value than much
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  cunning. The Eagle and the Arrow. An eagle sat on a lofty rock
• 10:52
  watching the movements of a hare, whom he sought to make his prey.
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  An archer, who saw him from a place of concealment, took an accurate
• 11:01
  aim and wounded him mortally. The eagle took one look at the arrow that
• 11:07
  had entered his heart, and saw in that single glance that its feathers had
• 11:11
  been furnished by himself. It is a double grief to me, he exclaimed,
• 11:18
  that I should perish by an arrow feathered from my own wings. The
• 11:22
  misfortunes arising from a man's own misconduct are the hardest to bear. The dog
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  invited to supper. A gentleman, having prepared a great feast, invited a
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  friend to supper, and the gentleman's dog, meeting the friend's dog, come,
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  said he, by, good fellow, and sup with us tonight.
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  The dog was delighted with the invitation, and as he stood by and saw
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  the preparations for the feast, said to himself, capital fair, indeed,
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  this is in true good luck. I shall revel in dainties, and I
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  will take good care to lay in an apple stock tonight, for I may
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  have nothing to eat tomorrow. As he said this to himself, he wagged
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  his tail and gave a sly look at his friend who had incited him.
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  But his tail, wagging to and fro, caught the cook's eye, who,
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  seeing a stranger straightway, seized him by the legs and threw him out
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  the window to the street below. When he reached the ground, he set
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  off yelping down the street, upon which the neighbor's dogs ran up to him
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  and asked him how he liked his supper in faith, said he with a
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  sorry smile. I hardly know, for we drank so deeply that I can't
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  even tell you which way I got out. Those who enter by the backstairs
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  must not complain if they are thrown out by the window. The frogs asking
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  for a king, The frogs grieved at no established ruler, sent ambassadors to
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  Jupiter in treating for a king. He, perceiving their simplicity, cast down
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  a huge log into the lake. The frogs, terrified at a splash occasioned
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  by its fall, hid themselves in the depth of the pool. But no
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  sooner did they see that the huge log continued motionless than they swam again to
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  the top of the water, dismissed their fears, and came so to despise
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  it as to climb up into squat upon it. After some time they began
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  to think themselves ill treated in the appointment of so inert a ruler, and
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  sent a second deputation to Jupiter to pray that he would set over them another
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  sovereign. He then gave them an eel to govern them. When the frogs
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  discovered his easy good nature, they yet a third time sent to Jupiter to
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  beg that he would once more choose for them. Another king, writer,
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  displeased that their complaints, sent a heron, who preyed upon the frogs day
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  by day till there were none left to complain. When you seek to change
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  your condition, be sure that you can better it. The prophet. A
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  wizard sitting in the marketplace, told the fortunes of the passers by. A
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  person ran up in great haste and announced to him that the doors of his
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  house had been broken open, and that all his goods were being stolen.
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  He sighed heavily and hastened away as fast as he could run. A neighbor
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  saw him running and said, oh, you follow those You say you can
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  foretell the fortunes of others. How is it you did not foresee your own?
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  The dog and his master's dinner. A dog had been taught to take
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  his master's dinner to him every day. As he smelled the good things in
• 15:03
  the basket, he was sorely tempted to taste them. But he resisted the
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  temptation and continued day after day to carry the basket faithfully. One day,
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  all the dogs in the neighborhood followed him with longing eyes and greedy jaws,
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  and tried to steal the dinner from the basket. At first, the faithful
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  dog tried to run away from them, but they pressed him so close that
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  at last he stopped to argue with them. This was what the thieves desired,
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  and they soon ridiculed him to that extent that he said, very well,
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  I will divide with you, and he seized the best piece of chicken
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  in the basket and left the rest for the others to enjoy. He who
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  stops to parley with temptation will be very likely to yield. Thefoon and the
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  countryman, a rich nobleman once opened the theater to the public without charge,
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  and gave notice that he would handsomely reward anyone who would produce a new amusement.
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  A buffoon, well known for his jokes, said that he had a
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  kind of entertainment that had never been produced in a theater. This report,
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  being spread about, created a great stir in the place, and the theater
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  was crowded to see the new entertainment. The buffoon appeared and imitated the squeaking
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  of a little pig so admirably with his voice that the audience declared that he
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  had a porker under his cloak, and demanded that it should be shaken out.
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  When that was done, and yet nothing was found, they cheered the
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  actor with the loudest applause. A countryman in the crowd proclaimed that he would
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  do the same thing on the next day. On the morrow, a still
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  larger crowd of umbled in the theater. Both of the performers appeared on the
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  stage. The buffoon grunted and squeaked, and obtained, as on the preceding
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  day, the applause and cheers of the spectators. Next, the countryman commenced,
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  and, pretending that he concealed a little pig beneath his clothes, which
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  in truth he did, contrived to lay hold of and to pull his ear
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  when he began to squeak. The crowd, however, cried out that the
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  buffoon had given a far more exact imitation. On this, the rustic produced
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  the pig and showed them the greatness of their mistake. Critics are not always
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  to be depended upon end of Section six