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What will be our future condition if he should beget other suns?" But thou art immortal and dost never fade, but bloomest for ever in renewed youth. O foolish creature that I am! For the sake of a little pleasant food I have deprived myself of my life. Conquer, but conquer to your cost. That I might attain your royal hand, there is nothing that I would not have promised, however much I knew that I must fail in the performance. But finding the Fig-Tree denuded of leaves, the snow fell through to the ground, and did not injure it at all. I can easily make peace with myself, because I know there was no intention to hurt. Do not cultivate the favor of this man, but of your former owner, lest he should again hunt for you and deprive you a second time of your wings. Then the Ass, seeing all these things, changed his mind, and commiserated the Horse. I return as an enemy only to those who injured me. Jupiter, vexed at his request because he was not satisfied with his size and strength of body, and desired yet more, not only refused to give him horns, but even deprived him of a portion of his ears. The King, as soon as he heard the tale, ordered the Lion to be set free again in the forest, and the Shepherd to be pardoned and restored to his friends. You must indeed be a simple-minded fellow if you expect to get anything from me, who am accustomed to take from everyone, and never to give anything in return. I am indeed glad that I was thought so little of, for I have lost nothing, nor am I hurt with any wound. Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth; but the winds suddenly falling on me create these waves, and lash me into fury. But as he still continued to stay, as time went on, the rich man became accustomed to the smell, and feeling no manner of inconvenience, made no further complaints. "Well, since so huge a beast is afraid of a tiny gnat, I will no more complain, nor wish myself dead. I find myself, even as I am, better off than the Elephant." "Stay, my friends, do not do as you intended; for you now see that there are creatures who are still more timid than ourselves." Some men underrate their best blessings. "Why, to tell you the truth, I drank so much wine that I remember nothing. I do not know how I got out of the house." The safeguards of virtue are hateful to those with evil intentions. "Now you shall certainly die by mine own hands, for no evil, whether it be small or large, ought to be tolerated." I shall now with less scruple take your life, because you are willing to save it at the cost of betraying your friends and relations. In pain the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove take wing. They who act without sufficient thought, will often fall into unsuspected danger. A wolf, having stolen a lamb from a fold, was carrying him off to his lair. "But you really must have been out of your senses to fasten yourself on me, who am myself always accustomed to fasten upon others." "I despise the weak and yield to the strong. I know whom I may bully and whom I must flatter; and I thus prolong my life to a good old age." Upon this, the old man, vexed and ashamed, made the best of his way home again, convinced that by endeavoring to please everybody he had pleased nobody, and lost his Ass in the bargain. "Why do you ask me? Is it that the level way through the desert is closed?" It matters little if those who are inferior to us in merit should be like us in outside appearances. Nature exceeds nurture. We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them. "Get along with you! for I will now make you a present of the hare." "O unhappy me! who have found in that which I deemed a happy windfall the source of my destruction." "Look here," he said, "this shows what sort of judges you are." "You silly creature! why have you hatched these vipers which, when they shall have grown, will inflict injury on all, beginning with yourself?" Try before you trust. The next day he attempted to snatch a lamb from the fold, but he himself fell prey to the huntsmen and hounds. Thus the earth, the air, and the water alike refused shelter to a murderer. "Because in former times, falsehood was with few, but is now with all men." "Thank you. But I can't think that you, who refuse me a little matter now, will by and by confer on me a greater benefit." "Why, forsooth! use I gave credence to the words of a woman!" "My daughter, you are rightly called wise; for unless what we do is useful, the glory of it is vain." I, indeed, who have experienced with what speed you run away, know right well that no dependence can be placed on your valor." Self-interest alone moves some men. It is absurd to ape our betters. The Owl came forth from her hollow, seized her, and put her to death. "O you most ungrateful creatures! You provide wool to make garments for all other men, but you destroy the clothes of him who feeds you." Attempt not impossibilities. But at last the Bitch, protected by the bodyguard of her Whelps, who had now grown up and were able to defend themselves, asserted her exclusive right to the place and would not permit the shepherd to approach. Some men are of more consequence in their own eyes than in the eyes of their neighbors. Youth's first duty is reverence to parents. "You are indeed, sir, sadly deceiving yourself; you are indulging a hope strong enough to cheat you, but which will never reward you with enjoyment." What is most truly valuable is often underrated. Hence it is that men are quick to see the faults of others, and yet are often blind to their own failings. A man is known by the company he keeps. "I can no longer consider you as a friend," said the Satyr, "a fellow who with the same breath blows hot and cold." There, in the sight of the Eagle, the Fox gobbled them up. Jupiter, indignant at such inveterate faultfinding, drove him from his office of judge, and expelled him from the mansions of Olympus. The Fox, unable even to taste it, met with a fitting requital, after the fashion of her own hospitality. "To my certain knowledge he is a Daw; but he would like you to think an Eagle." Mercury, displeased at his knavery, not only took away the golden axe, but refused to recover for him the axe he had thrown into the pool. The larger the number of your family, the greater your cause of sorrow, in seeing them shut up in this prison-house. Hence it arises that Ills abound, for they come not one by one, but in troops, and by no means singly: while the Goods proceed from Jupiter, and are given, not alike to all, but singly, and separately; and one by one to those who are able to discern them. "this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my inevitable destruction." "Ah! you who so lately, when you supposed yourself safe, exulted over my calamity, have now reason to deplore a similar misfortune." "I might possibly have been frightened myself, if I had not heard your bray." "That is the very reason for which you should be put to death," they said; "for, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the others to battle." Hence it is that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things, while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly. "It is not thou who revilest me; but this mischance which has befallen me." "Unhappy bird! what have you done? By thus appearing before the springtime you have not only killed yourself, but you have wrought my destruction also." Therefore being condemned by each for his treachery, he was driven forth from the light of day, and henceforth concealed himself in dark hiding-places, flying always alone and at night. "Wretched me! this overestimation of myself is the cause of my destruction." Now he considered that it would be neither an easy nor a necessary work to make himself such a house as would accommodate him. "You should have moved your master not to ill, but to good, will." How can you pretend to prescribe for others, when you are unable to heal your own lame gait and wrinkled skin? "I shall no longer distress myself at being struck at by these Gamecocks, when I see that they cannot even refrain from quarreling with each other." "Death would not be grievous to me, if I could only see my Enemy die before me." Persuasion is better than Force. "O thou most base fellow? how can I believe thee, who hast disowned and wronged thy former patron?" "I have already two oxen, who, without making any promises, do all these things. It is surely better for me to give the water to them than to you." "I wish you both would look into the mirror every day: you, my son, that you may not spoil your beauty by evil conduct; and you, my daughter, that you may make up for your lack of beauty by your virtues." Men of evil reputation, when they perform a good deed, fail to get credit for it. "Of what folly have you been guilty? You have not hesitated to entrust your heads to a man, whom no one could employ to make even the shoes for their feet." It is easy to kick a man that is down. Evil tendencies are shown in early life. The Cranes, being light of wing, fled away at his approach; while the Geese, being slower of flight and heavier in their bodies, were captured. "What a beautiful head! Yet it is of no value, as it entirely lacks brains." "Where, O boaster, are now all thy gay trappings, thou who are thyself reduced to the condition you so lately treated with contempt?" "Woe is me! that while I purposed to hunt another, I am myself fallen unawares into the snares of death." Union is strength. "Let us cease lamenting, my mates, for, as it seems to me, sorrow is always the twin sister of joy; and it was only to be looked for that we, who just now were over-rejoiced, should next have something to make us sad." Away, therefore, with your insolence, for I know well when to go fast, and when to go slow.
The dishonest, if they act honestly, get no credit. I prefer my bare plowlands and roots from the hedgerow, where I can live in safety, and without fear. They at once killed the Goat, and so healed the Ass. "I see no indication whatever of your having slaughtered a sheep, while I do see very plainly every preparation for your dining on a bull." "No, my friend, it is not for the pasture that you invite me, but for yourself, who are in want of food." When the Fox approached the tree, the Dog sprang out and caught him, and tore him to pieces. "I should indeed have lost my senses if I should let go food ready in my hand, for the sake of pursuing birds which are not yet even within sight." These are all contented with the endowments allotted to them. Straws show how the wind blows. "The Grapes are sour, and not ripe as I thought." "I am in need of immediate help, and he is wont to give his good gifts very slowly."
"I am rightly served, for why did I attempt the art of healing, when my father only taught me the trade of a butcher?" Counsel without help is useless. "Ah! you that lie there, may you prosper just in the same proportion as you are what you pretend to be!" Acquaintance softens prejudices. Self-help is the best help. "Your words, O Hares! are good; but they lack both claws and teeth such as we have." "I have been rightly served; why did I trust my sheep to a Wolf?" The King of the Apes, enraged at hearing these truths, gave him over to the teeth and claws of his companions. The end of life was reserved for the Dog, wherefore the old man is often snappish, irritable, hard to please, and selfish, tolerant only of his own household, but averse to strangers and to all who do not administer to his comfort or to his necessities. "If you think to stop my mouth, you will be greatly mistaken. This sudden kindness at your hands will only make me more watchful, lest under these unexpected favors to myself, you have some private ends to accomplish for your own benefit, and for my master's injury." A false tale often betrays itself. "Oh! you fellow there! you say you can foretell the fortunes of others; how is it you did not foresee your own?" "It is just what I deserve; for I, who am only a butcher, should not have turned piper to please you." From that hour he found that instead of obtaining revenge on the Stag, he had enslaved himself to the service of man. So desiring two ends, he obtained neither. The Dolphin, indignant at these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey under the water and drowned him. "Woe is me! that I, who can wage war successfully with the hugest beasts, should perish myself from this spider, the most inconsiderable of insects!" "O wretched me! that those whom I cheer with my fruit should repay me with these painful requitals!"
Even though you have the size of a lion among wolves, in a herd of lions you are definitely a wolf. A willful man will have his way to his own hurt. Necessity is the mother of invention. The rustic, ignorant of his danger, was about to drink, when the Eagle struck his hand with his wing, and, seizing the drinking horn in his talons, carried it aloft. "I am rightly served, for I should not have maltreated the Vine that saved me." "I must have made a mistake; my father, after all, could have been only an ass." Every tale is not to be believed. And thus they both, along with their families, perished from hunger, and afforded ample provision for the Cat and her kittens. "For these flies which you see are full of blood, and sting me but little, and if you rid me of these which are already satiated, others more hungry will come in their place, and will drink up all the blood I have left." Fine feathers don't make fine birds. Two blacks do not make one white. "I knew that way long before you were born." No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust or distrust him. "At least my enemy and I shall perish together." Use serves to overcome dread. Be on guard against men who can strike from a distance. Count the cost before you commit yourselves. The Dogs listened favorably to these proposals, and, entering the den of the Wolves, they were set upon and torn to pieces. The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings. In a change of government the poor change nothing beyond the name of their master. From that day the Hen became fat and sleek, and never once laid another egg. Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness. "The first step has lost us all. If we had not given up the rights of the ash, we might yet have retained our own privileges and have stood for ages." Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous. Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes. The foolish pair, thus hoping to become rich all at once, deprived themselves of the gain of which they were assured day by day. Misfortunes springing from ourselves are the hardest to bear. "Think how many men there are who have reason to lament the loss of their children, whose deaths have been caused by you." Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others. "Boast no more, but henceforth be content to give thy light in silence. Know that not even the stars need to be relit" "Master, how can you expect the sheep to be safe if you admit a wolf into the fold?" "What a marvel it is that hairs which are not mine should fly from me, when they have forsaken even the man on whose head they grew." Everyone is more or less master of his own fate. "You do not see the difference between us: I was only running for a dinner, but he for his life."
"You have only to thank yourselves for the misfortunes to which you are exposed: for if you did not make such excellent pillars and posts, and prove yourselves so serviceable to the carpenters and the farmers, the axe would not so frequently be laid to your roots." The best intentions will not always ensure success. "And how much more beautiful than you am I, who am decorated, not in body, but in mind." The dancing spectacle thus came to an end amidst the laughter and ridicule of the audience. It shows an evil disposition to take advantage of a friend in distress. "Well, I think thou art altogether contradictory and unreasonable; for when I paid you honor, I reaped no benefits: but now that I maltreat you I am loaded with an abundance of riches." Taking it up, the man returned to the same place, to find that the wall under which he had been sitting had fallen to pieces; and he marveled at the service rendered him by the Eagle. "I am rightly served, for having let go of the food that I had in my hand for the chance of obtaining more." "The great do not always prevail. There are times when the small and lowly are the strongest to do mischief." "And are you indeed to make yourself a judge of the dealings of Providence, who hast thyself in a similar manner treated these poor Ants?" Every man should be content to mind his own business. It was the time of the wheat harvest; but the Farmer reaped nothing that year and returned home grieving sorely. In avoiding one evil, care must be taken not to fall into another. It sometimes happens that one man has all the toil, and another all the profit. "Ah, my good madam, even though you should turn into a meal-bag, we will not come near you." Do nothing without a regard to the consequences. "O Hercules! if you will not help me against a Flea, how can I hope for your assistance against greater antagonists?" "I am rightly served; for what business had I who had never handled a net to try and catch fish?" Necessity knows no law. "Indeed, I should have thanked you fervently if your deeds had been as good as your words, and if your hands had not been traitors to your speech."
"Ah, you will have to remain there, my friend, until you become such as you were when you crept in, and then you will easily get out." The Swan, threatened with death, burst forth into song and thus made himself known by his voice, and preserved his life by his melody. "Well, if you will buy these, I'll fling you that into the bargain." "On my word, you are rightly served, for how could you for a moment think of shutting up a Lion along with you in your farmyard when you know that you shake in your shoes if you only hear his roar at a distance?" "I do it advisedly; for it would never do to have to sharpen my weapons just at the time I ought to be using them." The hero is brave in deeds as well as words. "I should indeed be a very simple fellow if, for the chance of a greater uncertain profit, I were to forego my present certain gain." Stoop to conquer. "It would have been better for me to have been either starved by the one, or to have been overworked by the other of my former masters, than to have been bought by my present owner, who will even after I am dead tan my hide, and make me useful to him." In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance. Do you not know that labor is the source of every blessing, and that none but those who work are entitled to eat?" Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities. At this moment she tossed her head in unison with her thoughts, when down fell the milk pail to the ground, and all her imaginary schemes perished in a moment. Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost. I rather deserve to be praised for what I have been, than to be blamed for what I am. I have reluctantly brooked the insults of the brave, but to be compelled to endure such treatment from thee, a disgrace to Nature, is indeed to die a double death. He who shares the danger ought to share the prize. They are not wise who give to themselves the credit due to others. "We would far rather be destroyed in our battle with each other than admit any interference from you in our affairs." "What a clamor you would raise if I were to do as you are doing!" He is not to be trusted as a friend who mistreats his own family. Every man for himself. "Why, I saw the Monkey do this very thing yesterday, and you all laughed heartily, as if it afforded you very great amusement." "Pray cease to flow into me, and then you will not be made briny." "May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight; for the weight of this chain is enough to spoil the appetite." But when the Mice further debated who among them should thus "bell the Cat," there was no one found to do it. The more honor the more danger. False confidence often leads into danger. "It is again in want of dates, and therefore looks quiet." "O wretched creature that I am! to take such precaution against the land, and after all to find this seashore, to which I had come for safety, so much more perilous." "It is better for us to make friends, than to become the food of Crows or Vultures."
"Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, which, while giving me the sovereignty of the sea, has quite denied me the power of living upon the land." We must make friends in prosperity if we would have their help in adversity. "It is a double grief to me," he exclaimed, "that I should perish by an arrow feathered from my own wings." Might makes right. The least outlay is not always the greatest gain. Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease. Then summoning his laborers, he ordered that the Stag should be seized and killed. Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents. "My good Crow, your voice is right enough, but your wit is wanting." The memory of a good deed lives. Abstain and enjoy. but he could not prevent the smaller fish from falling back through the meshes of the net into the sea. What's bred in the bone will stick to the flesh. Hypocritical speeches are easily seen through. Equals make the best friends. Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed increase their means of injuring you. Harm hatch, harm catch. Better poverty without care, than riches with. "That, lifting up the load, you may place it again upon my shoulders." "Ah! if you had beaten me when I first stole and brought to you that lesson-book, I should not have come to this, nor have been thus led to a disgraceful death." "Woe to me a stranger! that in this place where all others' rights are protected, I alone should suffer wrong." "For this you were allowed to live in idleness, because you were presently to be sacrificed." Example is more powerful than precept. They found no treasure, but the vines repaid their labor by an extraordinary and superabundant crop. "If your sister wishes for rain, and you for dry weather, with which of the two am I to join my wishes?' "Since you have taught me to steal, you must keep a sharp lookout, or you will lose some of your own flock." "and do not be angry; for you would, I assure you, sooner burst than successfully imitate the hugeness of that monster." Time and place often give the advantage to the weak over the strong. "We are all very well, and shall continue so, if you will only be good enough to go away, and leave us as we are." There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth. When they had done this, they found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for their mistress, no longer hearing the hour from the cock, woke them up to their work in the middle of the night. "I know not whether Jupiter will allot the prize to my son, but this I do know, that he is at least in the eyes of me his mother, the dearest, handsomest, and most beautiful of all." for if you now should crop my leaves, and cut me down to my root, I shall provide the wine to pour over you when you are led as a victim to the sacrifice." The whole Body quickly became debilitated, and the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes, when too late, repented of their folly. "You must now go to the war on foot, for you have transformed me from a Horse into an Ass; and how can you expect that I can again turn in a moment from an Ass to a Horse?"
"O Monkey, and are you, with such a mind as yours, going to be King over the Beasts?" "harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune." Pride goes before destruction. for when I lost the use of my eyes, I saw in my house various chattels and valuable goods: but now, though he swears I am cured of my blindness, I am not able to see a single thing in it." The Sheep, poor silly creatures, were easily beguiled and dismissed the Dogs, whereupon the Wolves destroyed the unguarded flock at their own pleasure. "Hark ye, old fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not manage to see what is on earth?" Those who seek to please everybody please nobody. Whatever you do, do with all your might. "If you had not yourself lost your tail, my friend, you would not thus counsel us." Notoriety is often mistaken for fame. Old friends cannot with impunity be sacrificed for new ones. But when Jupiter proposed to make him king because of the beauty of his plumage, the birds indignantly protested, and each plucked from him his own feathers, leaving the Jackdaw nothing but a Jackdaw. Little liberties are great offenses. Do not be in a hurry to change one evil for another. And thus his trick recoiled on him, for he now carried on his back a double burden. Evil companions bring more hurt than profit. "Pray stop, my boys: what is sport to you, is death to us." Jupiter, displeased with all their complaints, sent a Heron, who preyed upon the Frogs day by day till there were none left to croak upon the lake. "I am treated according to my deserts. If I had only been willing to assist the Ass a little in his need, I should not now be bearing, together with his burden, himself as well." Harm seek. Harm find. No one truly forgets injuries in the presence of him who caused the injury. But when the toothless, clawless Lion returned to repeat his request, the Woodman, no longer afraid, set upon him with his club, and drove him away into the forest. Do not attempt too much at once. "Your handling and mine are very different things. He catches you only for your wool, or your milk, but he lays hold on me for my very life." "Although you abound in specious apologies, I shall not remain supperless"; and he made a meal of him.
"Now, my good man, if this be all true there is no need of witnesses. Suppose this to be Rhodes, and leap for us." The value is in the worth, not in the number. "I have brought it all on myself! Why could I not have been contented to labor with my companions, and not wish to be idle all the day like that useless little Lapdog!" "if you really wish me to be in good condition, you should groom me less, and feed me more." He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others. for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it." Do not attempt to hide things which cannot be hid. Change of habit cannot alter Nature. Zeal should not outrun discretion. Those who suffer most cry out the least. Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends. Look before you leap. "he cannot eat the hay himself, and yet refuses to allow those to eat who can." If words suffice not, blows must follow. One story is good, till another is told. Pleasure bought with pains, hurts. If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined. The Lion, seeing that the Ass was secured, immediately clutched the Fox, and attacked the Ass at his leisure. Don't make much ado about nothing. Fair weather friends are not worth much. "Oh! that you would eat the dead and not the living." No arguments will give courage to the coward. The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful. Birds of a feather flock together. "Pray, my dear friends, in my presence at least cease from such vain disputings." Slow but steady wins the race. "Just now I vowed to offer a lamb to the Guardian Deities of the forest if I could only find out who had robbed me; but now that I have discovered the thief, I would willingly add a full-grown Bull to the Calf I have lost, if I may only secure my own escape from him in safety." "My son, I am afraid that you are not only blind, but that you have lost your sense of smell." He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away. The loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend. "If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter." Self-help is the best help. "O you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance, but now that I have ceased you do so merrily." In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains. The Hare said, "Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong." And after the Hare said this, he ran for his life. I would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world. If you had but touched me, my friend, you would have lost me, and all your locusts too! My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks. Like will draw like. You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you, not expecting to receive from me any repayment of your favor; now you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to confer benefits on a Lion. The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.
It is wise to turn circumstances to good account. The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny. |
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