Aesop's Fables - Aesop (great books to read .TXT) 📗

AESOP’S FABLES (82 Fables)

 

The Cock and the Pearl

The Wolf and the Lamb

The Dog and the Shadow

The Lion’s Share

The Wolf and the Crane

The Man and the Serpent

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

The Fox and the Crow

The Sick Lion

The Ass and the Lapdog

The Lion and the Mouse

The Swallow and the Other Birds

The Frogs Desiring a King

The Mountains in Labour

The Hares and the Frogs

The Wolf and the Kid

The Woodman and the Serpent

The Bald Man and the Fly

The Fox and the Stork

The Fox and the Mask

The Jay and the Peacock

The Shepherd’s Boy

The Young Thief and His Mother

The Man and His Two Wives

The Nurse and the Wolf

The Tortoise and the Birds

The Two Crabs

The Ass in the Lion’s Skin

The Two Fellows and the Bear

The Two Pots

The Four Oxen and the Lion

The Fisher and the Little Fish

Avaricious and Envious

The Crow and the Pitcher

The Man and the Satyr

The Goose With the Golden Eggs

The Labourer and the Nightingale

The Fox, the Cock, and the Dog

The Wind and the Sun

Hercules and the Waggoner

The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey

The Frog and the Ox

Androcles

The Bat, the Birds, and the Beasts

The Hart and the Hunter

The Serpent and the File

The Man and the Wood

The Dog and the Wolf

The Belly and the Members

The Hart in the Ox-Stall

The Fox and the Grapes

The Horse, Hunter, and Stag

The Peacock and Juno

The Fox and the Lion

The Lion and the Statue

The Ant and the Grasshopper

The Tree and the Reed

The Fox and the Cat

The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

The Dog in the Manger

The Man and the Wooden God

The Fisher

The Miser and His Gold

The Fox and the Mosquitoes

The Fox Without a Tail

The One-Eyed Doe

Belling the Cat

The Hare and the Tortoise

The Old Man and Death

The Hare With Many Friends

The Lion in Love

The Bundle of Sticks

The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts

The Ass’s Brains

The Eagle and the Arrow

The Milkmaid and Her Pail

The Cat-Maiden

The Horse and the Ass

The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner

The Buffoon and the Countryman

The Old Woman and the Wine-Jar

The Fox and the Goat

 

Aesop’s Fables

 

The Cock and the Pearl

 

A cock was once strutting up and down the farmyard among the hens when suddenly he espied something shinning amid the straw. “Ho! ho!” quoth he, “that’s for me,” and soon rooted it out from beneath the straw. What did it turn out to be but a Pearl that by some chance had been lost in the yard? “You may be a treasure,” quoth Master Cock, “to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls.”

Precious things are for those that can prize them.

 

The Wolf and the Lamb

 

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. “There’s my supper,” thought he, “if only I can find some excuse to seize it.” Then he called out to the Lamb, “How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?”

“Nay, master, nay,” said Lambikin; “if the water be muddy up there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you to me.”

“Well, then,” said the Wolf, “why did you call me bad names this time last year?”

“That cannot be,” said the Lamb; “I am only six months old.”

“I don’t care,” snarled the Wolf; “if it was not you it was your father;” and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and

.WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA

.ate her all up. But before she died she gasped out

.“Any excuse will serve a tyrant.”

 

The Dog and the Shadow

 

It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath. Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that also. So he made a snap at the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

 

The Lion’s Share

 

The Lion went once a-hunting along with the Fox, the Jackal, and the Wolf. They hunted and they hunted till at last they surprised a Stag, and soon took its life. Then came the question how the spoil should be divided. “Quarter me this Stag,” roared the Lion; so the other animals skinned it and cut it into four parts. Then the Lion took his stand in front of the carcass and pronounced judgment: The first quarter is for me in my capacity as King of Beasts; the second is mine as arbiter; another share comes to me for my part in the chase; and as for the fourth quarter, well, as for that, I should like to see which of you will dare to lay a paw upon it.”

“Humph,” grumbled the Fox as he walked away with his tail between his legs; but he spoke in a low growl .“You may share the labours of the great, but you will not share the spoil.”

 

The Wolf and the Crane

 

A Wolf had been gorging on an animal he had killed, when suddenly a small bone in the meat stuck in his throat and he could not swallow it. He soon felt terrible pain in his throat, and ran up and down groaning and groaning and seeking for something to relieve the pain. He tried to induce every one he met to remove the bone. “I would give anything,” said he, “if you would take it out.” At last the Crane agreed to try, and told the Wolf to lie on his side and open his jaws as wide as he could. Then the Crane put its long neck down the Wolf’s throat, and with its beak loosened the bone, till at last it got it out.

“Will you kindly give me the reward you promised?” said the Crane.

The Wolf grinned and showed his teeth and said: “Be content. You have put your head inside a Wolf’s mouth and taken it out again in safety; that ought to be reward enough for you.”

Gratitude and greed go not together.

 

The Man and the Serpent

 

A Countryman’s son by accident trod upon a Serpent’s tail, which turned and bit him so that he died. The father in a rage got his axe, and pursuing the Serpent, cut off part of its tail. So the Serpent in revenge began stinging several of the Farmer’s cattle and caused him severe loss. Well, the Farmer thought it best to make it up with the Serpent, and brought food and honey to the mouth of its lair, and said to it: “Let’s forget and forgive; perhaps you were right to punish my son, and take vengeance on my cattle, but surely I was right in trying to revenge him; now that we are both satisfied why should not we be friends again?”

“No, no,” said the Serpent; “take away your gifts; you can never forget the death of your son, nor I the loss of my tail.”

Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.

 

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

 

Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread, were all he had to offer, but he offered them freely. The Town Mouse rather turned up his long nose at this country fare, and said: “I cannot understand, Cousin, how you can put up with such poor food as this, but of course you cannot expect anything better in the country; come you with me and I will show you how to live. When you have been in town a week you will wonder how you could ever have stood a country life.” No sooner said than done: the two mice set off for the town and arrived at the Town Mouse’s residence late at night. “You will want some refreshment after our long journey,” said the polite Town Mouse, and took his friend into the grand dining-room. There they found the remains of a fine feast, and soon the two mice were eating up jellies and cakes and all that was nice. Suddenly they heard growling and barking. “What is that?” said the Country Mouse. “It is only the dogs of the house,” answered the other. “Only!” said the Country Mouse. “I do not like that music at my dinner.” Just at that moment the door flew open, in came two huge mastiffs, and the two mice had to scamper down and run off. “Good-bye, Cousin,” said the Country Mouse, “What! going so soon?” said the other. “Yes,” he replied;

“Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.”

 

The Fox and the Crow

 

A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree. “That’s for me, as I am a Fox,” said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. “Good-day, Mistress Crow,” he cried. “How well you are looking to-day: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds.” The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox. “That will do,” said he. “That was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the future .“Do not trust flatterers.”

 

The Sick Lion

 

A Lion had come to the end of his days and lay sick unto death at the mouth of his cave, gasping for breath. The animals, his subjects, came round him and drew nearer as he grew more and more helpless. When they saw him on the point of death they thought to themselves: “Now is the time to pay