Aesop's Fables (Penguin Classics) - Aesop [32]
The Vine and the Goat
There was once a vine teeming with ripe fruit and tender shoots and looking forward to the day when it would provide a bountiful vintage. Suddenly a wanton goat appeared and gnawed its bark and nibbled its young leaves.
“You have no right to harm me like this,” said the vine. “But I won’t have to wait long for my just revenge. Even if you crop my leaves and cut me down to my root, I shall provide the wine to pour over you when you’re brought as a sacrifice to the altar.”
Though it may be late, retribution arrives in the end.
CLXX
The Sick Lion
When the lion reached a ripe old age, he became weak and could no longer hunt for his prey. All he could do was to lie in his den, where he breathed with great difficulty. Soon he made it known that he was indeed very ill, and the news was spread among the beasts, who lamented his sick condition. One after the other they came to see him, and one after the other they fell into the lion’s trap in his den, where he made an easy prey of them and grew fat on this diet. The fox suspected that there was some foul play and decided to visit the lion and inquire about his health. Standing at some distance, he asked his majesty how he was.
“Ah, my dearest friend,” said the lion, “is it you? Why are you standing so far away from me? Come, sweet friend, and whisper a word of consolation in the poor lion’s ear, who has but a short time to live,”
“Bless you,” said the fox, “but you’ll excuse me if I cannot stay. To tell you the truth, I feel quite uneasy when I look at the marks left by the footsteps that I see here. They all point toward your den, and none reveal that they have ever left.”
Never venture into an affair unless you know that there is a way out.
CLXXI
The Rivers and the Sea
Once upon a time the rivers joined together and went in one body to the sea.
“Why is it,” they accused her, “that after we rivers pour our fresh and sweet waters into you, you immediately make them salty and unpalatable?”
Fully aware of their bad tempers, the sea merely answered, “If you do not wish to become salt, please keep away from me altogether.”
Those who benefit most from a good arrangement are often the first to complain.
CLXXII
The Blackamoor
Once a man bought a blackamoor and assumed that the color of the slave’s skin was due to the neglect of his former master. No sooner did he bring him home than he procured all kinds of scouring utensils, scrubbing brushes, soaps, and sandpaper and set to work with his servants to wash him white again. For hours they drenched and rubbed him, but it was in vain. His skin remained as black as ever, while the poor wretch almost died from the cold he caught from all their scrubbing and washing.
It is not humanly possible to change what is humanly natural.
CLXXIII
The Boy and the Nettle
A boy who was playing in the fields was stung by a nettle. He ran home to his mother and told her that he had merely touched the nasty weed and it had stung him.
“It was just your touching it, my boy,” said his mother, “that caused it to sting you. The next time you meddle with a nettle, grab it tightly, and it will not. harm you.”
Whatever you do, do it boldly.
CLXXIV
The Seaside Travelers
As some travelers were making their way along a seashore, they came to a high cliff, and looking out at the sea; they saw a log floating at some distance. At first they thought it must be a large ship, and so they waited in hope of seeing it enter the harbor. But as the log drifted nearer to the shore, they no longer thought it was a ship but a small boat. Finally, when it reached the beach, they saw it was nothing but a log and realized that all their watching and waiting had been in vain.
Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities.
CLXXV
The Boy Who Went Swimming
A boy was swimming in a river and went so far out that he was in danger of drowning. Fortunately, he saw a man walking by and yelled to him with all his might. Instead of rushing to his aid, however, the man began to lecture the