THE WOLF AND THE GOAT
THE KID AND THE WOLF
THE FROGS AND THE WELL
THE WOLF AND THE HORSE
THE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN
THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE ASS
THE FOX AND THE LEOPARD
THE HUNTER AND THE WOODMAN
AESOP’S FABLES
A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging
from a vine that was trained along a high trellis,
and did his best to reach them by jumping as high
as he could into the air. But it was all in vain,
for they were just out of reach: so he gave up
trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and
unconcern, remarking, “I thought those Grapes
were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.”
A Man and his Wife had the good fortune to possess
a Goose which laid a Golden Egg every day. Lucky
though they were, they soon began to think they were
not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird
must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it
in order to secure the whole store of precious metal
at once. But when they cut it open they found
it was just like any other goose. Thus, they neither
got rich all at once, as they had hoped, nor enjoyed
any longer the daily addition to their wealth.
Much wants more and loses
all.
There was once a house that was overrun with Mice.
A Cat heard of this, and said to herself, “That’s
the place for me,” and off she went and took
up her quarters in the house, and caught the Mice one
by one and ate them. At last the Mice could stand
it no longer, and they determined to take to their
holes and stay there. “That’s awkward,”
said the Cat to herself: “the only thing
to do is to coax them out by a trick.”
So she considered a while, and then climbed up the
wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from
a peg, and pretended to be dead. By and by a
Mouse peeped out and saw the Cat hanging there.
“Aha!” it cried, “you’re very
clever, madam, no doubt: but you may turn yourself
into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet
you won’t catch us coming anywhere near you.”
