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.

0912-0912 done

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey


  A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market.
As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them
and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

  So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their
way.  But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See
that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

  So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself.
But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom
said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little
son trudge along."

  Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his
Boy up before him on the Donkey.  By this time they had come to
the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them.  The
Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at.  The men said:
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey
with you and your hulking son?"

  The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do.  They
thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied
the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to
their shoulders.  They went along amid the laughter of all who met
them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one
of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end
of the pole.  In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and
his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

  "That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:

"Please all, and you will please none."

0905

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Today's AESOP's Fable
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The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass


  THE LION, the Fox and the Ass entered into an agreement to assist
each other in the chase.  Having secured a large booty, the Lion
on their return from the forest asked the Ass to allot his due
portion to each of the three partners in the treaty.  The Ass
carefully divided the spoil into three equal shares and modestly
requested the two others to make the first choice.  The Lion,
bursting out into a great rage, devoured the Ass.  Then he
requested the Fox to do him the favor to make a division.  The
Fox accumulated all that they had killed into one large heap and
left to himself the smallest possible morsel.  The Lion said,
"Who has taught you, my very excellent fellow, the art of
division? You are perfect to a fraction."  He replied, "I learned
it from the Ass, by witnessing his fate."


Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others.