336.The Wild Boar and the Fox
A WILD BOAR stood under a tree and rubbed his tusks against the trunk. A fox passing by asked him why he thus sharpened his teeth when there was no danger threatening from either huntsman or hound. He replied,
“I do it advisedly; for it would never do to have to sharpen my weapons just at the time I ought to be using them.”
❖ In fair weather prepare for foul.
335.The Widow and the Sheep
A CERTAIN poor widow had one single sheep. At shearing time, wishing to take his fleece and to avoid expense, she sheared him herself, but used the shears so unskillfully that with the fleece she sheared the flesh.
The sheep, writhing with pain, said,
“Why do you hurt me so, mistress? What weight can my blood add to the wool? If you want my flesh, there is the butcher, who will kill me in an instant; but if you want my fleece and wool, there is the shearer, who will shear and not hurt me.”
❖ Lack of skill causes lots of difficulties.
334.The Widow and Her Little Maidens
A WIDOW who was fond of cleaning had two little maidens to wait on her. She was in the habit of waking them early in the morning, at cockcrow. The maidens, aggravated by such excessive labor, resolved to kill the cock who roused their mistress so early. When they had done this, they found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for their mistress, no longer hearing the hour from the cock, woke them up to their work in the middle of the night.
❖ Foresight is better than hindsight.
❖ Shortsightedness becomes quite a problem when it sides with faults instead of redressing them.
333.The Weasel and the Mice
A WEASEL, inactive from age and infirmities, was not able to catch mice as he once did. He therefore rolled himself in flour and lay down in a dark corner. A Mouse, supposing him to be food, leaped on him, and was instantly caught and squeezed to death. Another perished in a similar manner, and then a third, and still others after them. A very old Mouse, who had escaped many a trap and snare, observed from a safe distance the trick of his crafty foe and said,
“Ah! you that lie there, may you prosper just in the same proportion as you are what you pretend to be!”
