0929 and 1002

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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The Owl and the Birds


  AN OWL, in her wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn
first began to sprout, to pull it all up out of the ground and
not allow it to grow.  She said acorns would produce mistletoe,
from which an irremediable poison, the bird-
lime, would be extracted and by which they would be captured.
The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax, which
men had sown, as it was a plant which boded no good to them.
And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that
this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers
which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves.
The Birds gave no credence to these warning words, but considered
the Owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad.  But
afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered at her
knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds.  Hence it is
that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things,
while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments
their past folly.

0926

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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  The Peasant and the Apple-Tree


  A PEASANT had in his garden an Apple-Tree which bore no fruit but
only served as a harbor for the sparrows and grasshoppers.  He
resolved to cut it down, and taking his axe in his hand, made a
bold stroke at its roots.  The grasshoppers and sparrows
entreated him not to cut down the tree that sheltered them, but
to spare it, and they would sing to him and lighten his labors.
He paid no attention to their request, but gave the tree a second
and a third blow with his axe.  When he reached the hollow of the
tree, he found a hive full of honey.  Having tasted the
honeycomb, he threw down his axe, and looking on the tree as
sacred, took great care of it.


Self-interest alone moves some men.

0929 => 0925

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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 The Old Woman and the Physician


  AN OLD WOMAN having lost the use of her eyes, called in a
Physician to heal them, and made this bargain with him in the
presence of witnesses:  that if he should cure her blindness, he
should receive from her a sum of money; but if her infirmity
remained, she should give him nothing.  This agreement being
made, the Physician, time after time, applied his salve to her
eyes, and on every visit took something away, stealing all her
property little by little.  And when he had got all she had, he
healed her and demanded the promised payment.  The Old Woman,
when she recovered her sight and saw none of her goods in her
house, would give him nothing.  The Physician insisted on his
claim, and.  as she still refused, summoned her before the Judge.
The Old Woman, standing up in the Court, argued:  "This man here
speaks the truth in what he says; for I did promise to give him a
sum of money if I should recover my sight:  but if I continued
blind, I was to give him nothing.  Now he declares that I am
healed.  I on the contrary affirm that I am still blind; for when
I lost the use of my eyes, I saw in my house various chattels and
valuable goods:  but now, though he swears I am cured of my
blindness, I am not able to see a single thing in it."

0926-0924 done

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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  The Monkey and the Dolphin


  A SAILOR, bound on a long voyage, took with him a Monkey to amuse
him while on shipboard.  As he sailed off the coast of Greece, a
violent tempest arose in which the ship was wrecked and he, his
Monkey, and all the crew were obliged to swim for their lives.  A
Dolphin saw the Monkey contending with the waves, and supposing
him to be a man (whom he is always said to befriend), came and
placed himself under him, to convey him on his back in safety to
the shore.  When the Dolphin arrived with his burden in sight of
land not far from Athens, he asked the Monkey if he were an
Athenian.  The latter replied that he was, and that he was
descended from one of the most noble families in that city.  The
Dolphin then inquired if he knew the Piraeus (the famous harbor
of Athens).  Supposing that a man was meant, the Monkey answered
that he knew him very well and that he was an intimate friend.
The Dolphin, indignant at these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey
under the water and drowned him.

0923-0922 done

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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  Mercury and the Workmen


  A WORKMAN, felling wood by the side of a river, let his axe drop
- by accident into a deep pool.  Being thus deprived of the means
of his livelihood, he sat down on the bank and lamented his hard
fate.  Mercury appeared and demanded the cause of his tears.
After he told him his misfortune, Mercury plunged into the
stream, and, bringing up a golden axe, inquired if that were the
one he had lost.  On his saying that it was not his, Mercury
disappeared beneath the water a second time, returned with a
silver axe in his hand, and again asked the Workman if it were
his.  When the Workman said it was not, he dived into the pool
for the third time and brought up the axe that had been lost.
The Workman claimed it and expressed his joy at its recovery.
Mercury, pleased with his honesty, gave him the golden and silver
axes in addition to his own.    The Workman, on his return to his
house, related to his companions all that had happened.  One of
them at once resolved to try and secure the same good fortune for
himself.  He ran to the river and threw his axe on purpose into
the pool at the same place, and sat down on the bank to weep.
Mercury appeared to him just as he hoped he would; and having
learned the cause of his grief, plunged into the stream and
brought up a golden axe, inquiring if he had lost it.  The
Workman seized it greedily, and declared that truly it was the
very same axe that he had lost.  Mercury, displeased at his
knavery, not only took away the golden axe, but refused to
recover for him the axe he had thrown into the pool.