Chapter 141 There was once a blacksmith who had a little dog. While he hammered away at his metal, the dog slept. But whenever he sat down to have dinner, the dog woke up.“You sluggard!” cried the brazier, throwing him a bone. “You sleep through the noise of the anvil, but wake up at the […]
Chapter 140 An ass who was carrying a statue in a religious procession was driven through a town, and all the people bowed in deep reverence as the statue passed them. As a result the ass, who thought that they were actually worshipping him, became very much taken with himself and refused to budge another
Chapter 139 A wolf followed a flock of sheep for a long time and made no attempt to attack them. However, the shepherd had his suspicions, and for a while he was always on his guard against him, knowing that the wolf was an avowed enemy of the sheep. But when the wolf stayed close
Chapter 138 There was once a man who was lucky enough to own a goose that laid him a golden egg every day. However, since the process was so slow and since he wanted the entire treasure at once, he became dissatisfied and eventually killed the goose. After cutting her open, he found her to
Chapter 137 Once a boy put his hand into a bottle containing a lot of hazel nuts and figs. He grabbed as many as his fist could possibly hold, but when he endeavored to pull his hand out, he was hampered because the neck was too narrow. Unwilling to lose any of his treasure, but
Chapter 136 Once upon a time there was a fierce war waged between the birds and the beasts. For a while the out-come of the battle was uncertain, and the bat, taking advantage of his ambiguous nature, kept out of the fray and remained neutral. Finally, when it appeared that the beasts would prevail, the
Chapter 135 An ass that was being driven along the road by his master suddenly left the beaten track and bolted as fast as he could to the edge of a cliff. When he was just at the point of falling over, his master ran up, grabbed him by the tail, and tried to pull
Chapter 134 After deciding to become partners, an ass and a fox went out into the country to hunt. On the way they met a lion, and realizing the danger ahead, the fox went straight to the lion and whispered, “If you promise not to harm me, I’ll betray the ass, and you’ll easily have
Chapter 133 A country maid was carrying a pail of milk on her head to the farmhouse when she began daydreaming and musing. “The money that I earn from this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred. If I take into account that some of these eggs may be
Chapter 132 As some oxen were pulling a wagon along a bumpy road, the wheels began to creak and make a tremendous noise, whereupon the driver cried to the wagon, “Brute! Why do you groan when those creatures who are doing all the work are silent?”Those who cry the loudest are not always the ones
Chapter 131 A doctor had been treating a sick man for some time when the man died under his care. At the funeral the doctor walked about talking to the relatives and said, “If only our poor friend had refrained from drinking wine and had taken care of his body, he would not be lying
Chapter 130 Two men were traveling along the same road when one of them picked up a hatchet and cried, “Look what I’ve found!”“Don’t say I,” responded the other, “but look what we have found.”Some time later the man who had lost the hatchet appeared and claimed that the man who found it had stolen
Chapter 129 It was a stormy day, and the snow was falling fast when a goatherd drove his goats, all covered with white flakes, into a deserted cave for shelter. There he discovered that a herd of wild goats, more numerous and larger than his own, had already taken refuge. The goatherd was so struck
Chapter 128 Once upon a time the oxen held a meeting and decided to do away with the butchers, whose whole art, they said, had been conceived for their destruction. So they sharpened their horns for the battle when a very old ox, who had worked at the plow for a long time, addressed them
Chapter 127 Emerging from the mud of a swamp, a frog proclaimed to the entire world that he had surfaced to cure all diseases.“Come and see the most miraculous doctor in the world!” he cried. “No one is my equal, not even Aesculapius himself, Jove’s physician!”“How dare you pretend to be able to heal others,”