256.The Old Hound
A HOUND, who in the days of his youth and strength had never yielded to any beast of the forest, encountered in his old age a boar in the chase. He seized him boldly by the ear, but could not retain his hold because of the decay of his teeth, so that the boar escaped.
His master, quickly coming up, was very much disappointed, and fiercely abused the dog. The hound looked up and said,
“It was not my fault, master: My spirit was as good as ever, but I could not help my infirmities. I rather deserve to be praised for what I have been, than to be blamed for what I am.”
❖ Both a friend and a dog are to be taken with their faults.
255.The Oaks and Sir Success
THE OAKS presented a complaint to Sir Success, saying,
“We bear for no purpose the burden of life, as of all the trees that grow we are the most continually in peril of the axe.”
Sir Success made answer:
“You have only to thank yourselves for the misfortunes to which you are exposed: for if you did not make such excellent pillars and posts, and prove yourselves so serviceable to the carpenters and the farmers, the axe would not so frequently be laid to your roots.”
❖ A sad side of shown and unguarded excellence is abuse stemming from it.
254.The Oak and the Woodcutter
THE WOODCUTTER cut down a mountain Oak and split it in pieces, making wedges of its own branches for dividing the trunk. The oak said with a sigh, “I don’t care about the blows of the axe aimed at my roots, but I do grieve at being torn in pieces by these wedges made from my own branches.”
❖ Misfortunes springing from ourselves can be among the hardest to bear.
253.The Oak and the Reeds
A VERY LARGE OAK was uprooted by the wind and thrown across a stream. It fell among some reeds, which it thus addressed:
“I wonder how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these strong winds.”
They replied,
“You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.”
❖ Stoop to conquer.
