Aesop's Fables Episode 9

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The father and his sons. Afather had a family of sons who were
perpetually quarreling among themselves. When hefailed to heal their disputes by his exhortations,
he one day told them to bringhim a bundle of sticks. When
they had done so, he placedthe bundle into the hands of each one
of them in succession, and orderedthem to break it in pieces. They

(00:24):
each tried with all their strength,and were not able to do it.
He next unclosed the faggot and tookthe sticks separately, one by one,
and again put them into their hands, on which they broke them easily.
He then addressed them in these words, my sons, if you are of
one mind and unite to assist eachother, you will be as this faggot,

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uninjured by all attempts of your enemies. But if you are divided among
yourselves, you will be broken aseasily as these sticks. Disunited families are
easily injured by others. The owland the grasshopper. An owl who was
sitting in a hollow tree dozing awaya summer's afternoon, was very much disturbed

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by a rogue of a grasshopper singingin the grass beneath, so far from
keeping quiet or moving away at therequest of the owl, the grasshopper sang
all the more and called her anold blinker that only came out at night
when all honest people had gone tobed. The owl waited in silence for

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a time, and then artfully addressedthe grasshopper as follows, well, my
dear, if one cannot be allowedto sleep, it is something to be
kept awake by such a pleasant voice. And now I think of it,
I have a bottle of delicious nectar. If you will come up, you
shall have a drop. The sillygrasshopper came hopping up to the owl,

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who at once caught and killed himand finished her nap. In come,
flattery is not a proof of admiration. The Fox and the grapes. A
famished fox saw some clusters of ripeblack grapes hanging from a trellised vine.
She resorted to all her tricks toget at them, but wearied herself in

(02:20):
vain for she could not reach them. At last, she turned away,
beguiling herself of her disappointment and saying, the grapes are sour and not ripe,
as I thought, revile not thingsbeyond your reach. The ass carrying
the image. An ass once carriedthrough the streets of a city a famous

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wooden image to be placed in oneof its temples. The crowd, as
he passed along, made lowly prostrationbefore the image. The ass, thinking
that they bowed their heads in tokenof respect for him, bristled up with
pride and gave himself airs and refusedto move another step. The driver,

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seeing him thus stop, laid hiswhip lustfully about his shoulders and said,
oh, you perverse, dull head. It has not yet come to this
that men pay worship to an ass. They are not wise who take to
themselves the credit due to others.The ass and the lapdog. A man

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had an ass and a Maltese lapdog, a very great beauty. The ass
was left in a stable and hadplenty of oats and hay to eat,
just as any other ass would.The lap dog was a great favorite with
his master, and he frisks andjumped about him in a manner pleasant to
see. The ass had much workto do in grinding the corn mill,

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and in carrying wood from the forestor burdens from the farm. He often
lamented his own hard fate, andcontrast did it with the luxury and idleness
of the lapdog. So at lastone day he broke his halter and galloped
into his master's house, kicking uphis heels without measure, and frisking and

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fawning as well as he could.He next tried to jump about his master,
as he had seen the lapdog do, but he broke the table and
smashed all the dishes upon it toatoms. He then attempted to lick his
master and jumped upon his back.The servants, hearing the strange hubbub and
perceiving the danger of their master,quickly relieved him and drove out the ass

(04:35):
to his stable with kicks and clubsand cuffs. The ass beaten nearly to
death. Thus lamented, I havebrought it all on myself. Why could
I not have been contented to laborwith my companions and not try to live
by idleness? The Tortoise and theEagle. A tortoise lazily basking in the

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sun complained to the sea birds ofher hard fate that no one would teach
her to fly. An eagle hoveringnear heard her lamentation and demanded what reward
she would give him if he wouldtake her aloft and float her in the
air. I will give you,she said, all the riches of the

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red sea. I will teach youto fly. Then said the eagle,
and taken her up in his talons. He carried her almost to the clouds,
when suddenly letting her go. Shefell on a lofty mountain and dashed
her shell to pieces. The tartoiseexclaimed, in the moment of death,

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I have deserved my present fate.For what had I to do with wings
and clouds? Who can with difficultymove about on the earth? If men
had all they wished, they wouldbe often ruined. The porcupine and the
snakes. A porcupine, wanting toshelter himself, desired a nest of snakes

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to give him admittance into their cave. They were prevailed upon and let him
in accordingly, but were so annoyedwith his sharp, prickly quills that they
soon repented of their easy compliance,and entreated the porcupine to withdraw and leave
them their whole to themselves. No, says he let them quit the place

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that don't like it. For mypart, I am well enough satisfied as
I am hospitality is a virtue,but should be wisely exercised. We may,
by thoughtlessness, entertain foes instead offriends. The fox who had lost
his tail, a fox caught ina trap, escaped with the loss of

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his brush. Henceforth, feeling hislife a burden from the shame and ridicule
to which he was exposed, heschemed to bring all the other foxes into
a like condition with himself. Hepublicly advised them to cut off their tails,
saying that they would not only lookmuch better without them, but that

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they would be rid of the weightof the brush. One of them said,
if you had not yourself lost yourtail, my friend, you would
not thus counsel us. Advice promptedby selfishness should not be heated. The
old Lion, a lion worn outwith years, lay on the ground at

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the point of death. A boarrushed upon him and avenged with a stroke
of his tusks, a long rememberedinjury. Shortly afterwards, the bull,
with his horns, gored him asif he were an enemy. When the
ass saw that the huge beast couldbe assailed with impunity, he let drive

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at his forehead with his heels.The ass and the Wolf. An ass
feeding in a meadow saw a wolfapproaching to seize him, and immediately pretended
to be lame. The wolf,coming up, inquired the cause of his
lameness. The ass said that hehad a thorn in his foot and requested

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the wolf to pull it out.The wolf, consenting, the ass with
his heels, kicked his teeth intohis mouth and galloped away. The wolf
said, I am rightly served,for why did I attempt the art of
healing when my father only taught methe trade of a butcher. Every one

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to his trade. The horse andthe groom. A groom used to spend
whole days in currycombing and rubbing downhis horse, but at the same time
stole his oats and sold them forhis own profit. Alas said the horse,
if you really wish me to bein good condition, you should groom

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me less and feed me more.If you wish to do a service,
do it right. The ass andhis shadow. A traveler hired an ass
to convey him to a distant place. The day being intensely hot and the
sun shining in its strength, thetraveler stopped to rest and sought shelter from

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the heat. Under the shadow ofthe ass. As this afforded only protection
for one, and as the travelerand the owner of the ass both claimed
it, a violent dispute arose betweenthem as to which of them had the
right to it. The owner maintainedthat he had let the ass only,
and not his shadow. The travelerasserted that he had, with the hire

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of the ass, hired his shadowalso. The quarrel proceeded from words two
blows, and while the men thoughtthe ass galloped off. By quarreling about
the shadow, we often lose thesubstance. The horse and the loaded ass.

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An idle horse and an ass laboringunder a heavy burden, were traveling
the road together. The ass,ready to faint under his heavy load,
entreated the horse to assist him andlighten his burden by taking some of it
upon his back. The horse wasill natured and refused to do it,
upon which the poor ass tumbled downin the midst of the highway and expired.

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The countryman then took the whole burdenand laid it upon the horse,
together with the skin of the deadass. Laziness often prepares a burden for
its own back. The mules andthe robbers two mules laden with packs were
trudging along. One carried panniers filledwith money, the other sacks of grain.

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The mule carrying the treasure walked withhad erect and tossed up and down
the bells fastened to his deck.His companion followed with quiet and easy step.
All of a sudden robbers rushed fromtheir hiding places upon them, and,
in the scuffle with their owners,wounded the mule carrying the treasure,
which they greedily seized upon. Whilethey took no notice of the grain.

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The mule, which had been wounded, bewailed his misfortunes. The other replied,
I am glad that I was thoughtso little of, for I have
lost nothing, nor am I hurtwith any wound. The conspicuous run the
greatest risk. The lion and thethree bulls. Three bulls, for a

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long time pastured together. A lionlay an ambush in the hope of making
them his prey, but was afraidto attack them while they kept together.
Having at last, by guileful speeches, succeeded in separating them, he attack
them without fear as they fed alone, and feasted on them one by one

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at his own leisure in union isstrength. The dog and the shadow.
A dog crossing a bridge over astream with a piece of flesh in his
mouth saw his own shadow in thewater and took it for another dog with
a piece of meat double his ownin size. He therefore let go his

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own and fiercely attack the other dogto get his larger piece from him.
He thus lost both that which hegrasped at in the water because it was
a shadow, and his own becausethe stream swept it away. It is
not wise to be too greedy.The ants and the grasshopper. The ants

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were employing a fine winter's day indrying grain collected in the summertime. A
grasshop perishing with famine, passed byand earnestly begged for a little food.
The ants inquired of him, whydid you not treasure of food during the
summer, He replied, I hadnot leisure. I passed the days in

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singing. Then they said, ifyou were foolish enough to sing all the
summer, you must dance supperless tobed in the winter. Idleness brings want.
The thirsty pigeon. A pigeon oppressedby excessive thirst, saw a goblet

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of water painted on a signboard.Not supposing it to be only a picture,
she flew toward it with a loudwhir, and unwillingly dashed against the
sign board and jarred herself terribly.Having broken her wings by the blow,
she fell to the ground and wascaught by one of the bystanders. Zeal

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should not outrun discretion. The eyesand the honey. A jar of honey
having been upset in a housekeeper's room. A number of flies were attracted by
its sweetness, and placing their feetin it ate greedily. Their feet,
however, became so smeared with thehoney that they could not use their wings

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nor release themselves, and were suffocated. Just as they were expiring, they
exclaimed, oh, foolish creatures thatwe are, for the sake of a
little pleasure, we have destroyed ourselves. The great and the little fishes.
A fisherman was drawing up a netwhich he had cast into the sea full

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of all sorts of fish. Thelittle fish escaped through the meshes of the
net and got back into the deep, but the great fish were all caught
and hauled into the ship. Ourinsignificance is often the cause of our safety
into Section eight,