Aesop's
Fables by Aesop
Translated by George Fyler
Townsend
In Eight Parts
Part One
The Wolf and the Lamb
Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray
from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea
to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him:
"Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed,"
bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born."
Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good
sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again
said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the
Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food
and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying,
"Well! I won't remain supper-less, even though you refute every one of my
imputations." The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
The Bat and the Weasels
A Bat who fell upon the ground
and was caught by a Weasel pleaded to be spared his life. The Weasel refused, saying
that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. The Bat assured him that he was
not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. Shortly afterwards the Bat
again fell to the ground and was caught by another Weasel, whom he likewise
entreated not to eat him. The Weasel said that he had a special hostility to
mice. The Bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second
time escaped. It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.
The Ass and the Grasshopper
