Monthly Archives: August 2013
45.Fools Die for Want of Wisdom
A monkey made a great impression by dancing before an assembly of animals, who elected him their king. The fox was jealous. Noticing a snare with a piece of meat in it, he took the monkey to it and said:
“Here is a choice titbit that I have found. Instead of eating it myself I have kept it for you as a perquisite of your royal office. So take it.”
The monkey went at it carelessly and was caught in the snare. When he accused the fox of laying a trap for him, the fox replied: “Fancy a fool like you, friend monkey, being king of the animals!”
❖ People who attempt things without due consideration suffer for it and get laughed at into the bargain.
44.Dead men tell no tales
A fox and a monkey, as they journeyed together, disputed at great length about the nobility of their lineage. When they reached a certain place on the road, the monkey fixed his gaze on it and uttered a groan. The fox asked what was wrong with him. The monkey pointed to some tombs that stood there.
“Don’t you expect me to mourn,” he said, “when I behold the sepulchres of the slaves and freedmen of my ancestors?”
“Lie away to your heart’s content,” answered the fox. “They won’t any of them rise up to contradict you.”
❖ Certain impostors never boast more loudly than when there is no one to expose them.
43.A Lesson for Fools
A crow sat in a tree holding in his beak a piece of meat that he had stolen. A fox which saw him determined to get the meat. It stood under the tree and began to tell the crow what a beautiful big bird he was. He ought to be king of all the birds, the fox said; and he would undoubtedly have been made king, if only he had a voice as well. The crow was so anxious to prove that he had a voice, that he dropped the meat and croaked for all he was worth. Up ran the fox, snapped up the meat, and said to him:
“If you added brains to all your other qualifications, you would make an ideal king.”
42.The Boy and the Hazelnuts
A BOY put his hand into a pitcher full of hazelnuts. He grasped as many as he could possibly hold, but when he tried to pull out his hand, he was prevented from doing so by the neck of the pitcher. Unwilling to lose his hazelnuts, and yet unable to withdraw his hand, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment. A bystander said to him,
“Be satisfied with half the amount and you will readily draw out your hand.”
❖ Do not attempt too much at once.
❖ Life is a long lesson in humility.
