Aesop's Fables Episode 13

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The hunter and the wolf. Agreedy hunter one day shot a fine deer
and ere he could dress it.A pretty fawn came that way, and
an arrow brought it to the ground. A boar now chanced to be passing,
and the hunter wounded it so thatit lay upon the ground as if
dead. Not satisfied with this game, he must needs pursue a partridge that

(00:25):
came fluttering near, And while hewas doing so, the wounded boar regained
enough strength to spring upon him andkill him. A wolf came that way,
in seeing the four dead bodies,said, here is food for a
month. But I will save thebest and be content today with the bowstring.

(00:45):
But when he sees the string,it loosened the fixed arrow, which
shot him through the heart. Thegreedy man and the miser cannot enjoy their
gains. The astronomer and astronomer usedto walk out every night to gaze upon
the stars. It happened one nightthat, with his whole thoughts wrapped up

(01:08):
in the skies, he fell intoa well. One who heard his cries
ran up to him and said,while you were trying to pry into the
mysteries of heaven, you overlook thecommon objects under your feet. We should
never look so high as to missseeing the things that are around us.

(01:30):
The Bull and the frogs Two bullslived in the same herd, and each
aspiring to be the leader and master, they finally engaged in a fierce battle.
An old frog, who sat onthe bank of a stream near by,
began to groan and to quake withfear. A thoughtless young frog said

(01:52):
to the old one, why needyou be afraid? What is it to
you that the bulls fight for supremacy? Do you not see? Said the
old frog, that one must defeatthe other, and that the defeated bull,
being driven from the field, willbe forced to stay in the marshes,
and will thus trample us to death. The poor and weak are often

(02:15):
made to suffer for the follies ofthe great. The thief and his mother.
A schoolboy stole a horn book fromone of his schoolfellows and brought it
home to his mother. Instead ofchastising him, she rather encouraged him in
the deed. In course of time, the boy, now grown into a

(02:38):
man, began to steal things ofgreater value, until at last, being
caught in the very act he wasbrought to the judge and sentenced to be
hung. As he was being ledto the scaffold, the mother bowed herself
to the ground with grief. Aneighbor seeing her, thus said to her,
it is too late for you tomoan and sob now. If you

(03:01):
had been as much grieved when hecommitted his first theft, you would have
corrected him in time, and thushave saved yourself this sorrowful day. Nip
evil in the bud. The manand his two wives. In days when

(03:21):
a man was allowed more wives thanone, a middle aged bachelor who could
be called neither young nor old,and whose hair was only just beginning to
turn gray, must needs fall inlove with two women at once and marry
them both. The one was youngand blooming, and wished her husband to
appear as useful as herself. Theother was somewhat more advanced in age,

(03:45):
and as anxious that her husband shouldappear a suitable match for her. So,
while the young one seized every opportunityof pulling out the good man's gray
hairs, the old one was asindustrious in plucking out every care she could
find, till he found that betweenthe one and the other he had not
a hair left. He that submitshis principles to the influence and caprices of

(04:12):
opposite parties will end in having noprinciples at all. The heifer, the
goat, the sheep and the lion. A heifer, a goat, a
sheep, and a lion formed apartnership and agree to divide their earnings.
The goat having snared a stag,they sent for the lion to divide it

(04:33):
for them. The lion said,I will make four parts. The first
shall be mine as judge, thesecond because I am strongest, the third
because I am bravest, And thefourth I will kill anyone who dares touch
it. He who steals a partwill steal the whole. The camel and

(04:59):
the traveler. Two travelers on adesert saw a camel in the distance and
were greatly frightened at his huge appearance, thinking it to be some huge monster.
While they hid behind some low shrubs, the animal came nearer, and
they discovered it was only a harmlesscamel, which had excited their fears.

(05:20):
Distance exaggerates dangers. The swan andthe goose. A certain rich man bought
in the market a goose and aswan. He fed the one for his
table, and kept the other forthe sake of its song. When the
time came for killing the goose,the cook went to take him at night

(05:43):
when it was dark, and hewas not able to distinguish one bird from
the other, and he caught theswan instead of the goose. The swan,
threatened with death, burst forth intosong, and thus made himself known
by his voice, and preserved hislife by his lady. Sweet words may
deliver us from peril when harsh wordswould fail. The dolphins and the sprat.

(06:11):
The dolphins and the whales were atwar with one another, and the
sprats stepped in and endeavored to separatethem. But one of the dolphins cried
out, we would rather perish inthe contest than be reconciled by you.
The shepherd and the sea. Ashepherd moved down his flock to feed near

(06:32):
the shore, and beholding the sealying in a smooth calm, he was
seized with a strong desire to sailover it. So he sold all his
sheep and bought a cargo of dates, and loaded a vessel and set sail.
He had not gone far when astorm arose his ship was wrecked,
and his dates and everything lost,and he himself, with difficulty, escaped

(06:57):
to land. Not long after thesea was again calm, and one of
his friends came up to him andwas admiring its repose. He said,
have a care, my good fellow, of that smooth surface. It is
only looking out for your dates.The bees, the drones, and the
Wasp. Some bees had built theircomb in the hollow trunk of an oak.

(07:21):
The drones asserted that it was theirdoing and belonged to them. The
cause was brought into court before JudgeWasp. Knowing something of the parties,
he thus addressed them, The plaintiffsand defendants are so much alike in shape
and color as to render the ownershipa doubtful matter. Let each party take

(07:42):
a hive to itself and build upa new comb, that from the shape
of the cells and the taste ofthe honey, the lawful proprietors of the
property in dispute may appear. Thebees readily assented to the wasps plan,
the drones declined it, whereupon theWasp gave judgment. It is clear now

(08:03):
who made the comb and who cannotmake it. The Court I judges the
honey to the bees. Professions arebest tested by deeds. The wolf,
the goat, and the kid.As an old goat was going forth to
pasture, she carefully latched her doorand bid her kid not to open it

(08:26):
to anyone who could not give thispassword, beware of the wolf and all
his race. A wolf happened tobe passing and overheard what the old goat
said. When she was gone,he went to the door, and,
knocking, said, beware of thewolf and all his race. But the
kid, peering through a crack,said, show me a white paw,

(08:48):
and I will open the door.As the wolf could not do this,
he had to depart no better thanhe came. Two sureties are better than
one, the fox and the hedgehog. A fox, while crossing over a
river, was driven by the streaminto a narrow gorge, and lay there

(09:11):
for a long time, unable toget out, covered with myriads of horse
flies that had fastened themselves upon him. A hedgehog, who was wondering in
that direction, saw him, and, taking compassion on him, asked him
if he should drive away the fliesthat were so tormenting him. But the
fox begged him to do nothing ofthe sort, Why not, asked the

(09:33):
hedgehog, Because, replied the fox, these flies that are upon me now
are already full and draw but littleblood. But should you remove them,
a swarm of fresh and hungry oneswill come, who will not leave a
drop of blood in my body.When we throw off rulers our dependents,

(09:54):
who have already made the most ofus, we do, but for the
most lay ourselves open to others whowill make us bleed yet more freely.
The brazier and his dog. Abrazier had a little dog, which was
a great favorite of his master andhis constant companion. While he hammered away

(10:16):
at his metals, the dog slept. But when, on the other hand,
he went to dinner and began toeat, the dog woke up and
wagged his tail, as if hewould ask for a share of his meal.
His master one day, pretended tobe angry, and, shaking his
stick at him, said, youwretched little sluggard, What shall I do

(10:37):
to you? While I am hammeringon the anvil, you sleep on the
mat, And when I began toeat after my toil, you wake up
and wag your tail for food.Do you not know that labor is the
source of every blessing, and thatnone but those who work are entitled to
eat. The wild ass and theLion. A wild ass and a lion

(11:03):
entered into an alliance that they mightcapture the beasts of the forest with the
greater ease. The lion agreed toassist the wild ass with strength, while
the wild ass gave the lion thebenefit of his greater speed. When they
had taken as many beasts as theirnecessities required, the lion undertook to distribute
the prey, and for this purposehe divided it into three shares. I

(11:26):
will take the first share, hesaid, because I am king, and
the second share as a partner withyou in the chase. And the third
share, believe me, will bea source of great evil to you unless
you willingly resign it to me andset off as fast as you can might

(11:48):
makes right. The father and histwo daughters. A man had two daughters,
the one married to a gardener,and the other two a FileMaker.
After a while, he went tothe daughter who was married to the gardener
and inquired how she was and howall things went with her. She said,

(12:09):
all things are prospering with me,and I have only one wish that
there may be a heavy fall ofrain, in order that the plants may
be well watered. Not long after, he went to the daughter who had
married the tilemaker, and likewise inquiredof her how she fared. She replied,
I want for nothing, and onlyhave one wish, that the dry

(12:31):
weather may continue, and the sunshine hot and bright, so that the
bricks might be dried. He saidto her, if your sister wishes for
rain and you for dry weather,with which of the two am I to
join my wishes? The fir treeand the bramble. A fir tree said

(12:54):
boastingly to the bramble, you areuseful for nothing at all, while I
everywhere used for roofs and houses.The bramble made answer, you, poor
creature, If you would only callto mind the axes and saws which are
about to hew you down, youwould have a reason to wish that you

(13:15):
had grown up a bramble and nota fir tree. Better poverty without care
than riches. With the farmer andhis sons. A farmer, being on
the point of death, wished toinsure from his sons the same attention to
his farm as he himself had givenit. He called him to his bedside

(13:37):
and said, my sons, therewas a great treasure hid in one of
my vineyards. The sons, afterhis death, took their spades and mattocks
and carefully dug over every portion oftheir land. They found no treasure,
but the vines repaid their labor byan extraordinary and superabundant crop. The Cat

(14:01):
and the Birds. A cat,hearing that the birds and a certain aviary
were ailing, dressed himself up asa physician, and taking with him his
cane and the instruments becoming his profession, went to the aviary, knocked at
the door and inquired of the inmateshow they all did, saying that if
they were ill, he would behappy to prescribe for them and cure them.

(14:26):
They replied, we are all verywell and shall continue so if you
will only be good enough to goaway and leave us as we are.
The stag, the wolf and thesheep. A stag asked a sheep to
lend him a measure of wheat,and said that the wolf would be his

(14:46):
surety. The sheep, fearing somefraud was intended, excused herself, saying,
the wolf is accustomed to seize whathe wants and to run off,
And you too can quickly outstrip mein your rapid flight, How then shall
I be able to find you whenthe day of payment comes. Two blacks

(15:07):
do not make one white. Endof Section twelve.