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Aesop's Fables Episode 9 · Aesop's Fables

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  The father and his sons. A father had a family of sons who were
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  perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations,
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  he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When
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  they had done so, he placed the bundle into the hands of each one
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  of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They
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  each tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it.
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  He next unclosed the faggot and took the sticks separately, one by one,
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  and again put them into their hands, on which they broke them easily.
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  He then addressed them in these words, my sons, if you are of
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  one mind and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot,
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  uninjured by all attempts of your enemies. But if you are divided among
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  yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks. Disunited families are
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  easily injured by others. The owl and the grasshopper. An owl who was
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  sitting in a hollow tree dozing away a summer's afternoon, was very much disturbed
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  by a rogue of a grasshopper singing in the grass beneath, so far from
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  keeping quiet or moving away at the request of the owl, the grasshopper sang
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  all the more and called her an old blinker that only came out at night
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  when all honest people had gone to bed. The owl waited in silence for
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  a time, and then artfully addressed the grasshopper as follows, well, my
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  dear, if one cannot be allowed to sleep, it is something to be
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  kept awake by such a pleasant voice. And now I think of it,
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  I have a bottle of delicious nectar. If you will come up, you
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  shall have a drop. The silly grasshopper came hopping up to the owl,
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  who at once caught and killed him and finished her nap. In come,
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  flattery is not a proof of admiration. The Fox and the grapes. A
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  famished fox saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from a trellised vine.
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  She resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in
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  vain for she could not reach them. At last, she turned away,
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  beguiling herself of her disappointment and saying, the grapes are sour and not ripe,
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  as I thought, revile not things beyond your reach. The ass carrying
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  the image. An ass once carried through the streets of a city a famous
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  wooden image to be placed in one of its temples. The crowd, as
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  he passed along, made lowly prostration before the image. The ass, thinking
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  that they bowed their heads in token of respect for him, bristled up with
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  pride and gave himself airs and refused to move another step. The driver,
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  seeing him thus stop, laid his whip lustfully about his shoulders and said,
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  oh, you perverse, dull head. It has not yet come to this
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  that men pay worship to an ass. They are not wise who take to
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  themselves the credit due to others. The ass and the lapdog. A man
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  had an ass and a Maltese lapdog, a very great beauty. The ass
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  was left in a stable and had plenty of oats and hay to eat,
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  just as any other ass would. The lap dog was a great favorite with
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  his master, and he frisks and jumped about him in a manner pleasant to
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  see. The ass had much work to do in grinding the corn mill,
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  and in carrying wood from the forest or burdens from the farm. He often
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  lamented his own hard fate, and contrast did it with the luxury and idleness
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  of the lapdog. So at last one day he broke his halter and galloped
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  into his master's house, kicking up his heels without measure, and frisking and
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  fawning as well as he could. He next tried to jump about his master,
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  as he had seen the lapdog do, but he broke the table and
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  smashed all the dishes upon it to atoms. He then attempted to lick his
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  master and jumped upon his back. The servants, hearing the strange hubbub and
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  perceiving the danger of their master, quickly relieved him and drove out the ass
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  to his stable with kicks and clubs and cuffs. The ass beaten nearly to
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  death. Thus lamented, I have brought it all on myself. Why could
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  I not have been contented to labor with my companions and not try to live
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  by idleness? The Tortoise and the Eagle. A tortoise lazily basking in the
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  sun complained to the sea birds of her hard fate that no one would teach
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  her to fly. An eagle hovering near heard her lamentation and demanded what reward
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  she would give him if he would take her aloft and float her in the
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  air. I will give you, she said, all the riches of the
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  red sea. I will teach you to fly. Then said the eagle,
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  and taken her up in his talons. He carried her almost to the clouds,
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  when suddenly letting her go. She fell on a lofty mountain and dashed
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  her shell to pieces. The tartoise exclaimed, in the moment of death,
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  I have deserved my present fate. For what had I to do with wings
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  and clouds? Who can with difficulty move about on the earth? If men
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  had all they wished, they would be often ruined. The porcupine and the
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  snakes. A porcupine, wanting to shelter himself, desired a nest of snakes
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  to give him admittance into their cave. They were prevailed upon and let him
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  in accordingly, but were so annoyed with his sharp, prickly quills that they
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  soon repented of their easy compliance, and entreated the porcupine to withdraw and leave
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  them their whole to themselves. No, says he let them quit the place
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  that don't like it. For my part, I am well enough satisfied as
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  I am hospitality is a virtue, but should be wisely exercised. We may,
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  by thoughtlessness, entertain foes instead of friends. The fox who had lost
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  his tail, a fox caught in a trap, escaped with the loss of
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  his brush. Henceforth, feeling his life a burden from the shame and ridicule
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  to which he was exposed, he schemed to bring all the other foxes into
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  a like condition with himself. He publicly advised them to cut off their tails,
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  saying that they would not only look much better without them, but that
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  they would be rid of the weight of the brush. One of them said,
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  if you had not yourself lost your tail, my friend, you would
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  not thus counsel us. Advice prompted by selfishness should not be heated. The
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  old Lion, a lion worn out with years, lay on the ground at
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  the point of death. A boar rushed upon him and avenged with a stroke
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  of his tusks, a long remembered injury. Shortly afterwards, the bull,
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  with his horns, gored him as if he were an enemy. When the
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  ass saw that the huge beast could be assailed with impunity, he let drive
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  at his forehead with his heels. The ass and the Wolf. An ass
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  feeding in a meadow saw a wolf approaching to seize him, and immediately pretended
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  to be lame. The wolf, coming up, inquired the cause of his
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  lameness. The ass said that he had a thorn in his foot and requested
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  the wolf to pull it out. The wolf, consenting, the ass with
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  his heels, kicked his teeth into his mouth and galloped away. The wolf
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  said, I am rightly served, for why did I attempt the art of
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  healing when my father only taught me the trade of a butcher. Every one
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  to his trade. The horse and the groom. A groom used to spend
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  whole days in currycombing and rubbing down his horse, but at the same time
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  stole his oats and sold them for his own profit. Alas said the horse,
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  if you really wish me to be in good condition, you should groom
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  me less and feed me more. If you wish to do a service,
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  do it right. The ass and his shadow. A traveler hired an ass
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  to convey him to a distant place. The day being intensely hot and the
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  sun shining in its strength, the traveler stopped to rest and sought shelter from
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  the heat. Under the shadow of the ass. As this afforded only protection
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  for one, and as the traveler and the owner of the ass both claimed
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  it, a violent dispute arose between them as to which of them had the
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  right to it. The owner maintained that he had let the ass only,
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  and not his shadow. The traveler asserted that he had, with the hire
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  of the ass, hired his shadow also. The quarrel proceeded from words two
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  blows, and while the men thought the ass galloped off. By quarreling about
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  the shadow, we often lose the substance. The horse and the loaded ass.
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  An idle horse and an ass laboring under a heavy burden, were traveling
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  the road together. The ass, ready to faint under his heavy load,
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  entreated the horse to assist him and lighten his burden by taking some of it
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  upon his back. The horse was ill natured and refused to do it,
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  upon which the poor ass tumbled down in the midst of the highway and expired.
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  The countryman then took the whole burden and laid it upon the horse,
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  together with the skin of the dead ass. Laziness often prepares a burden for
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  its own back. The mules and the robbers two mules laden with packs were
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  trudging along. One carried panniers filled with money, the other sacks of grain.
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  The mule carrying the treasure walked with had erect and tossed up and down
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  the bells fastened to his deck. His companion followed with quiet and easy step.
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  All of a sudden robbers rushed from their hiding places upon them, and,
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  in the scuffle with their owners, wounded the mule carrying the treasure,
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  which they greedily seized upon. While they took no notice of the grain.
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  The mule, which had been wounded, bewailed his misfortunes. The other replied,
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  I am glad that I was thought so little of, for I have
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  lost nothing, nor am I hurt with any wound. The conspicuous run the
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  greatest risk. The lion and the three bulls. Three bulls, for a
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  long time pastured together. A lion lay an ambush in the hope of making
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  them his prey, but was afraid to attack them while they kept together.
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  Having at last, by guileful speeches, succeeded in separating them, he attack
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  them without fear as they fed alone, and feasted on them one by one
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  at his own leisure in union is strength. The dog and the shadow.
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  A dog crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his
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  mouth saw his own shadow in the water and took it for another dog with
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  a piece of meat double his own in size. He therefore let go his
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  own and fiercely attack the other dog to get his larger piece from him.
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  He thus lost both that which he grasped at in the water because it was
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  a shadow, and his own because the stream swept it away. It is
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  not wise to be too greedy. The ants and the grasshopper. The ants
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  were employing a fine winter's day in drying grain collected in the summertime. A
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  grasshop perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food.
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  The ants inquired of him, why did you not treasure of food during the
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  summer, He replied, I had not leisure. I passed the days in
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  singing. Then they said, if you were foolish enough to sing all the
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  summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter. Idleness brings want.
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  The thirsty pigeon. A pigeon oppressed by excessive thirst, saw a goblet
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  of water painted on a signboard. Not supposing it to be only a picture,
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  she flew toward it with a loud whir, and unwillingly dashed against the
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  sign board and jarred herself terribly. Having broken her wings by the blow,
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  she fell to the ground and was caught by one of the bystanders. Zeal
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  should not outrun discretion. The eyes and the honey. A jar of honey
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  having been upset in a housekeeper's room. A number of flies were attracted by
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  its sweetness, and placing their feet in it ate greedily. Their feet,
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  however, became so smeared with the honey that they could not use their wings
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  nor release themselves, and were suffocated. Just as they were expiring, they
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  exclaimed, oh, foolish creatures that we are, for the sake of a
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  little pleasure, we have destroyed ourselves. The great and the little fishes.
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  A fisherman was drawing up a net which he had cast into the sea full
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  of all sorts of fish. The little fish escaped through the meshes of the
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  net and got back into the deep, but the great fish were all caught
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  and hauled into the ship. Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety
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  into Section eight,