Æsop's fables

Belling the Cat

The Mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat.
At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away.
Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.
Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough.
At last a very young Mouse got up and said: "I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful.
All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck.
When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming.
" All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before.
But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good.
But let me ask one question: Who will bell the Cat?"

The Fox and the Crow

One bright morning as the Fox was following his sharp nose through the wood in search of a bite to eat,
he saw a Crow on the limb of a tree overhead.
This was by no means the first Crow the Fox had ever seen.
What caught his attention this time and made him stop for a second look, was that the lucky Crow held a bit of cheese in her beak.
"No need to search any farther," thought sly Master Fox. "Here is a dainty bite for my breakfast."
Up he trotted to the foot of the tree in which the Crow was sitting, and looking up admiringly,
he cried, "Good-morning, beautiful creature!" The Crow, her head cocked on one side, watched the Fox suspiciously. But she kept her beak tightly closed on the cheese and did not return his greeting.
"What a charming creature she is!" said the Fox.
"How her feathers shine! What a beautiful form and what splendid wings! Such a wonderful Bird should have a very lovely voice, since everything else about her is so perfect. Could she sing just one song, I know I should hail her Queen of Birds."
Listening to these flattering words, the Crow forgot all her suspicion, and also her breakfast.
She wanted very much to be called Queen of Birds. So she opened her beak wide to utter her loudest caw, and down fell the cheese straight into the Fox's open mouth.
"Thank you," said Master Fox sweetly, as he walked off. "Though it is cracked, you have a voice sure enough. But where are your wits?"


The flatterer lives at the expense of those who will listen to him.

The Wolf and the Lamb

A stray Lamb stood drinking early one morning on the bank of a woodland stream.
That very same morning a hungry Wolf came by farther up the stream, hunting for something to eat.
He soon got his eyes on the Lamb. As a rule Mr. Wolf snapped up such delicious morsels without making any bones about it,
but this Lamb looked so very helpless and innocent that the Wolf felt he ought to have some kind of an excuse for taking its life.
"How dare you paddle around in my stream and stir up all the mud!" he shouted fiercely.
"You deserve to be punished severely for your rashness!"
"But, your highness," replied the trembling Lamb, "do not be angry! I cannot possibly muddy the water you are drinking up there. Remember, you are upstream and I am downstream."
"You do muddy it!" retorted the Wolf savagely. "And besides, I have heard that you told lies about me last year!"
"How could I have done so?" pleaded the Lamb. "I wasn't born until this year."
"If it wasn't you, it was your brother!"
"I have no brothers."
"Well, then," snarled the Wolf, "It was someone in your family anyway. But no matter who it was, I do not intend to be talked out of my breakfast."
And without more words the Wolf seized the poor Lamb and carried her off to the forest.

The tyrant can always find an excuse for his tyranny.
The unjust will not listen to the reasoning of the innocent.