Aesop's Fables (21 page)

W
hen people go on a voyage they often take with them lapdogs or monkeys as pets to while away the time. Thus it fell out that a man returning to Athens from the East had a pet monkey on board with him. As they neared the coast of Attica a great storm burst upon them, and the ship capsized. All on board were thrown into the water, and tried to save themselves by swimming, the monkey among the rest. A dolphin saw him, and, supposing him to be a man, took him on his back and began swimming towards the shore. When they got near the Piraeus, which is the port of Athens, the dolphin asked the monkey if he was an Athenian. The monkey replied that he was, and added that he came of a very distinguished family. “Then, of course, you know the Piraeus,” continued the dolphin. The monkey thought he was referring to some high official or other, and replied, “Oh, yes, he’s a very old friend of mine.” At that, detecting his hypocrisy, the dolphin was so disgusted that he dived below the surface, and the unfortunate monkey was quickly drowned.

 

A
hungry crow spied a snake lying asleep in a sunny spot, and, picking it up in his claws, he was carrying it off to a place where he could make a meal of it without being disturbed, when the snake reared its head and bit him. It was a poisonous snake, and the bite was fatal, and the dying crow said, “What a cruel fate is mine! I thought I had made a lucky find, and it has cost me my life!”

S
ome dogs once found a lion’s skin, and were worrying it with their teeth. Just then a fox came by and said, “You think yourselves very brave, no doubt; but if that were a live lion, you’d find his claws a good deal sharper than your teeth.”

A
nightingale was sitting on a bough of an oak and singing, as her custom was. A hungry hawk presently spied her, and darting to the spot seized her in his talons. He was just about to tear her in pieces when she begged him to spare her life. “I’m not big enough,” she pleaded, “to make you a good meal. You ought to seek your prey among the bigger birds.” The hawk eyed her with some contempt. “You must think me very simple,” said he, “if you suppose I am going to give up a certain prize on the chance of a better, of which I see at present no signs.”

A
rose and an amaranth
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blossomed side by side in a garden, and the amaranth said to her neighbor, “How I envy you . your beauty and your sweet scent! No wonder you are such a universal favorite.” But the rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice, “Ah, my dear friend, I bloom but for a time. My petals soon wither and fall, and then I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut; for they are everlasting.”

O
ne winter’s day during a severe storm a horse, an ox, and a dog came and begged for shelter in the house of a man. He readily admitted them, and, as they were cold and wet, he lit a fire for their comfort; and he put oats before the horse, and hay before the ox, while he fed the dog with the remains of his own dinner. When the storm abated, and they were about to depart, they determined to show their gratitude in the following way. They divided the life of man among them, and each endowed one part of it with the qualities which were peculiarly his own. The horse took youth, and hence young men are high-mettled and impatient of restraint; the ox took middle age, and accordingly men in middle life are steady and hard-working; while the dog took old age, which is the reason why old men are so often peevish and ill-tempered, and, like dogs, attached chiefly to those who look to their comfort, while they are disposed to snap at those who are unfamiliar or distasteful to them.

T
he wolves sent a deputation to the sheep with proposals for a lasting peace between them, on condition of their giving up the sheepdogs to instant death. The foolish sheep agreed to the terms; but an old ram, whose years had brought him wisdom, interfered and said, “How can we expect to live at peace with you? Why, even with the dogs at hand to protect us, we are never secure from your murderous attacks!”

T
he swan is said to sing but once in its life—when it knows that it is about to die.
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A certain man who had heard of the song of the swan one day saw one of these birds for sale in the market, and bought it and took it home with him. A few days later he had some friends to dinner, and produced the swan, and bade it sing for their entertainment; but the swan remained silent. In course of time, when it was growing old, it became aware of its approaching end and broke into a sweet, sad song. When its owner heard it, he said angrily, “If the creature only sings when it is about to die, what a fool I was that day I wanted to hear its song! I ought to have wrung its neck instead of merely inviting it to sing.”

A
snake suffered a good deal from being constantly trodden upon by man and beast, owing partly to the length of his body and partly to his being unable to raise himself above the surface of the ground; so he went and complained to Jupiter about the risks to which he was exposed. But Jupiter had little sympathy for him. “I dare say,” said he, “that if you had bitten the first that trod on you, the others would have taken more trouble to look where they put their feet.”

A
wolf who was roaming about on the plain when the sun was getting low in the sky was much impressed by the size of his shadow, and said to himself, “I had no idea I was so big. Fancy my being afraid of a lion! Why, I, not he, ought to be king of the beasts.” And, heedless of danger, he strutted about as if there could be no doubt at all about it. Just then a lion sprang upon him and began to devour him. “Alas,” he cried, “had I not lost sight of the facts, I shouldn’t have been ruined by my fancies.”

A
plowman loosed his oxen from the plow and led them away to the water to drink. While he was absent a half-starved wolf appeared on the scene, and went up to the plow and began chewing the leather straps attached to the yoke. As he gnawed away desperately in the hope of satisfying his craving for food, he somehow got entangled in the harness, and, taking fright, struggled to get free, tugging at the traces as if he would drag the plow along with him. Just then the plowman came back, and seeing what was happening, he cried, “Ah, you old rascal, I wish you would give up thieving for good and take to honest work instead.”

A
man once saw a ship go down with all its crew, and commented severely on the injustice of the gods. “They care nothing for a man’s character,” said he, “but let the good and the bad go to their deaths together.” There was an ant heap close by where he was standing, and, just as he spoke, he was bitten in the foot by an ant. Turning in a temper to the ant heap he stamped upon it and crushed hundreds of unoffending ants. Suddenly Mercury appeared, and belabored him with his staff, saying as he did so, “You villain, where’s your nice sense of justice now?”

A
lion watched a fat bull feeding in a meadow, and his mouth watered when he thought of the royal feast he would make, but he did not dare to attack him, for he was afraid of his sharp horns. Hunger, however, presently compelled him to do something; and as the use of force did not promise success, he determined to resort to artifice. Going up to the bull in friendly fashion, he said to him, “I cannot help saying how much I admire your magnificent figure. What a fine head! What powerful shoulders and thighs! But, my dear friend, what in the world makes you wear those ugly horns? You must find them as awkward as they are unsightly. Believe me, you would do much better without them.” The bull was foolish enough to be persuaded by this flattery to have his horns cut off; and, having now lost his only means of defense, fell an easy prey to the lion.

A
man once bought a parrot and gave it the run of his house. It reveled in its liberty, and presently flew up onto the man . telpiece and screamed away to its heart’s content. The noise disturbed the cat, who was asleep on the hearthrug. Looking up at the intruder, she said, “Who may you be, and where have you come from?” The parrot replied, “Your master has just bought me and brought me home with him.” “You impudent bird,” said the cat, “how dare you, a newcomer, make a noise like that? Why, I was born here, and have lived here all my life, and yet, if I venture to mew, they throw things at me and chase me all over the place.” “Look here, mistress,” said the parrot; “you just hold your tongue. My voice they delight in, but yours—yours is a perfect nuisance.”

A
stag was chased by the hounds, and took refuge in a cave, where he hoped to be safe from his pursuers. Unfortunately the cave contained a lion, to whom he fell an easy prey. ���Unhappy that I am,” he cried, “I am saved from the power of the dogs only to fall into the clutches of a lion.”

 

Out of the frying pan into the fire.

A
certain man fell ill, and, being in a very bad way, he made a vow that he would sacrifice a hundred oxen to the gods if they would grant him a return to health. Wishing to see how he would keep his vow, they caused him to recover in a short time. Now, he hadn’t an ox in the world, so he made a hundred little oxen out of tallow and offered them up on an altar, at the same time saying, “Ye gods, I call you to witness that I have discharged my vow.” The gods determined to be even with him, so they sent him a dream, in which he was bidden to go to the seashore and fetch a hundred crowns which he was to find there. Hastening in great excitement to the shore, he fell in with a band of robbers, who seized him and carried him off to sell as a slave. And when they sold him, a hundred crowns was the sum he fetched.

 

Do not promise more than you can perform.

O
nce upon a time a number of dogs, who were famished with hunger, saw some hides steeping in a river, but couldn’t get at them because the water was too deep. So they put their heads together, and decided to drink away at the river till it was shallow enough for them to reach the hides. But long before that happened they burst themselves with drinking.

A
lion, a fox, and an ass went out hunting together. They had soon taken a large booty, which the lion requested the ass .to divide between them. The ass divided it all into three equal parts, and modestly begged the others to take their choice; at which the lion, bursting with fury, sprang upon the ass and tore him to pieces. Then, glaring at the fox, he bade him make a fresh division. The fox gathered almost the whole in one great heap for the lion’s share, leaving only the smallest possible morsel for himself. “My dear friend,” said the lion, “how did you get the knack of it so well?” The fox replied, “Me? Oh, I took a lesson from the ass.”