Aesop's Fables (Penguin Classics) - Aesop [12]
“It was no great secret,” the other replied. “He merely told me to watch out for the company I keep and not to trust people who abandon their friends in difficult times.”
Adversity tests the sincerity of friends.
LV
The Belly and the Members
Long ago when the members of the human body had very strong wills of their own and did not work together as amicably as they do now, they denounced the belly for leading an idle and luxurious life, while they were wholly occupied in supporting it and ministering to its wants and pleasures. At one point, they agreed to cut off the belly’s supplies for the future. The hands declared that they would not lift a thing, not even a crust of bread; the mouth that it would not accept any more food for the teeth to chew; the legs that they would no longer carry the belly from place to place, and so on with the others. No sooner did they set their plan of starving the belly into subjection than they all began, one by one, to fail and flag so that the whole body started to pine away. Consequently, the members became convinced that the belly, cumbersome and useless as it seemed to be, also had an important function of its own. In fact, they realized that they were just as dependent on it as it was on them and that if they wanted to keep the body in a healthy state, they would have to work together for the common good of all.
LVI
The Dolphins and the Sprat
The dolphins and the whales were at war with one another, and while the battle was at its height, the sprat stepped in and tried to separate them. But one of the dolphins cried out, “Let us alone! We’d rather die fighting than be reconciled by you.”
LVII
The Blind Man and the Whelp
A blind man could distinguish any kind of animal simply by touching it. One time, some friends wanted to test him and brought him a wolf s whelp. After feeling it all over, the blind man was not entirely certain about the animal, and he said, “I’m not sure whether your father was a dog or a wolf, but I am certain about one thing: I would not trust you among a flock of sheep.”
Evil tendencies are shown early in life.
LVIII
The Sick Stag
A stag whose joints had become stiff with old age fell sick and decided to lie down on the rich grass of a meadow close to some woods so that he might be able to graze more easily. Since he had always been a friendly and good neighbor, many beasts came to visit him and wish him farewell. Little by little, however, they began eating up all the grass until nothing was left. So, though the stag recovered from the disease, he had nothing to eat, and in the end, he died not so much from sickness or of old age as for sheer want of the food that his friends had eaten for him.
LIX
Hercules and the Wagoner
A farmer was carelessly driving his wagon along a muddy road when his wheels became stuck so deep in the clay that the horses came to a standstill. Consequently, the man dropped to his knees and began to pray for Hercules to come and help him without making the least effort to move the wagon himself. However, Hercules responded by telling him to lay his shoulder to the wheel and reminding him that heaven only aided those who tried to help themselves.
Pray as we may, if we do not learn to help ourselves, all our prayers will go unheeded.
LX
The Fox and the Woodcutter
A fox, who was hard pressed by some hounds during a hunt, approached a man who was cutting wood, and begged him to provide him with a hiding place. The man pointed to his own hut, and the fox crept inside and concealed himself