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of greater value until he was finally caught in the act. Soon thereafter he was tried and sentenced to death. As he was being led toward the place of execution, he noticed his mother in the crowd standing along the way. She was wailing and beating her breast, and he begged the officers for permission to whisper a few words in her ear. When she quickly drew near and placed her ear to her son’s lips, he seized the lobe of it tightly between his teeth and bit it off. Immediately she shrieked, and the crowd joined her in scolding the unnatural son, as if his former evil ways had not been enough. Now he had even gone a step further by committing this impious deed against his mother. However, he responded, “It’s she who’s the cause of my ruin! If she had given me a sound flogging when I stole my schoolmate’s hornbook and brought it to her, I would never have grown so wicked and come to this untimely end.”

Nip evil in the bud.

C

The Gnat and the Bull

After a gnat had been buzzing about the head of a bull for several minutes, he finally settled down upon a horn and begged the bull’s pardon for disturbing him. “If my weight causes you any inconvenience at all,” he said, “just tell me, and I’ll be off in a moment.”

“Oh, don’t trouble your mind about that,” said the bull. “It’s all the same to me whether you go or stay. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know you were there.”

The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.

CI

The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox

A lion and a bear pounced upon a fawn at the same time and had a long, grueling fight over it. The struggle was so hard and even that both of them eventually lay half-blinded and half-dead on the ground without enough strength to touch the prize that was stretched out between them. A fox, who had gone round them at a distance several times, saw how helpless they were, and he stepped in between the combatants and scampered off with the booty.

“What miserable creatures we are!” the lion and the bear cried. “We’ve knocked ourselves out and destroyed one another merely to give a rogue a dinner!”

Sometimes one man’s toil is another man’s profit.

CII

The Oak and the Reed

An oak that had been uprooted by a storm was carried down a river to the banks where many reeds were growing. The oak was astonished to see that things so slight and frail had withstood the storm when so great and strong a tree as he himself had been uprooted.

“It’s really not amazing," said a reed. "You were destroyed by fighting against the storm, while we survived by yielding and bending to the slightest breath that was blown.”

CIII

The Dog in the Manger

A dog made his bed in a manger and kept the horses from eating their food by snarling and growling at them.

“See what a miserable cur that dog is!” said one of the horses. “Even though he himself can’t eat the hay, he won’t allow anyone else to eat it who can.”

We should not deprive others of their blessings simply because we cannot enjoy them ourselves.

CIV

The Goose with the Golden Eggs

There was once a man who was lucky enough to own a goose that laid him a golden egg every day. However, since the process was so slow and since he wanted the entire treasure at once, he became dissatisfied and eventually killed the goose. After cutting her open, he found her to be just what any other goose would be.

The more you want, the more you stand to lose.

CV

The Lion and the Dolphin

While roaming along the seashore, a lion saw a dolphin basking on the surface of the water, and he suggested to him that they form an alliance.

“Since I am king of the beasts,” the lion said, “and you are the sovereign ruler of all the inhabitants of the ocean, we ought to be great friends and allies, if possible.”

The dolphin consented to this proposal, and not long after this, the lion was having a fight with a wild bull and called upon the dolphin for his promised support. Although the dolphin was ready to help the lion, he discovered that he could not come out of the sea to help his ally, and the lion called him a traitor.