The lion, Jupiter, and the elephant ; The pig and the sheep ; The gardener and his dog ; The rivers and the sea ; The lion in love ; The bee

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section fifteen of Asop's Fables, a new translation written by Azop,
translated by V. S. Vernon Jones. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This
section has been read by Rosslyn Carlyle. The Lion, Jupiter

(00:27):
and the Elephant. The lion, for all his size and
strength and his sharp teeth and claws, is a coward
in one thing. He can't bear the sound of a
cock crowing, and runs away whenever he hears it. He
complained bitterly to Jupiter for making him like that, but

(00:48):
Jupiter said it wasn't his fault. He had done the
best he could for the lion, and considering this was
his only failing, he ought to be well content. The lion, however,
wouldn't be comforted, and was so ashamed of his timidity
that he wished he might die. In this state of mind,
he met the elephant and had a talk with him.

(01:10):
He noticed that the great beast cocked up his ears
all the time, as if he were listening for something,
and the lion asked him why he did so. Just
then agnat came humming by, and the elephant said, knew
you see that wretched little buzzing insect. I'm terribly afraid
of its getting into my ear. If it even once

(01:33):
gets in, I'm dead and done for. The lion's spirits
rose at once when he heard this form. He said
to himself, if the elephant, huge as he is, is
afraid of a gnat, I needn't be so much ashamed
of being afraid of a cock who is ten thousand
times bigger than a nat. The peg in the sheet

(02:00):
a pig found his way into a meadow where a
flock of sheep were grazing. The shepherd caught him and
was proceeding to carry him off to the butchers when
he set up a loud squealing and struggled to get free.
The sheep rebuked him for making such a to do
and said to him, ma Ah, the shepherd catches us

(02:20):
regularly and drags us off just like that, and we
don't make any fuss un, No I dare say, not,
replied the pig. But my case and yours are altogether different.
He only wants you for wool, but he wants me
for bacon. The gardener and his dog. A gardener's dog

(02:44):
fell into a deep well from which his master used
to draw water for the plants and his garden with
a roup in a bucket. Failing to get the dog
out by means of these, the gardener went down into
the well himself in order to fetch the dog up.
But the dog thought he had come to make sure
of drowning him, so he bit his master as soon

(03:06):
as he came within reach, and hurt him a good deal,
with result that the gardener left the dog to his
fate and climbed out of the well, remarking, it serves
me quite right for trying to save so determine a suicide.
The rivers in the sea, Once upon a time all

(03:30):
the rivers combined to proteste against the action of the
sea in making their water salty. When we come to you,
said they to the sea, we are sweet and drinkable,
But when once we have mingled with you, our water
has become as brainy and unpalatable as your own, the

(03:51):
sea replied shortly, keep away from me, and you'll remain sweet.
A lion in love A lion fell deeply in love
with the daughter of a cottager, and wanted to marry her,
but her father was unwilling to give her to so

(04:11):
fearsome a husband. And yet he didn't want to found
the lion, so he hit upon the following expedient. He
went to the lion and said, I think you will
make a very good husband for my daughter, but I
cannot consent to your union unless you let me file
down your teeth and pear your nails, for my daughter

(04:33):
is terribly afraid of them. The lion was so much
in love that he readily agreed that this should be done.
Was soon. However, as he was thus disarmed, the cottager
was afraid of him no longer, but drove him away
with his club. The beekeeper. A thief found his way

(04:57):
into an apiary when the beekeeper was away and stole
all the honey. When the keeper returned and found the
hives empty, he was very much upset and stood staring
at them for some time. Before long, the bees came
back from gathering honey, and, finding their hives overturned and
the keeper standing by, they made for him with their stings.

(05:21):
At this the bee keeper fell into a passion and cried,
you ungrateful scoundrels, You let the seafo stole my honey,
get off scot free, and then you go and sting me,
who have always taken such good care of you. The
moral of the story is that when you hit back,
you should make sure that you have got the right man.

(05:46):
The Wolf and the horse. A wolf on his rambles
came to a field of oats, but not being able
to eat them, he was passing on his way when
a horse came along. Look, said the wolf, here's a
fine field of oats. For your sake, I have left
it untouched, and I shall greatly enjoy the sound of

(06:07):
your teeth munching the ripe grain. But the horse replied, Hm,
if wolfscreed oats, my fine friend, you would hardly have
indulged your ears at the cost of your belly. The
moral here is that there is no virtue in giving
to others what is useless to oneself. The bat, the bramble,

(06:31):
and the seagull. A bat, a bramble, and a seagull
went into partnership and determined to go on a trading
voyage together. The bat borrowed a sum of money for
his venture. The bramble laid in a stock of clothes
of various kinds, and the seagull took a quantity of lead,
and so they set out by and by a great

(06:52):
storm came on and their boat, with all the cargo,
went to the bottom. But the three travelers managed to
reach land. And ever since then the sea gulf lies
to and fro over the sea, and every now and
then dives below the surface looking for the lead he's lost.
While a bat is so afraid of meeting his creditors

(07:14):
that he hides away by day and only comes out
at night defeed, and the bramble catches hold of the
clothes of everyone who passes by, hoping some day to
recognize and recover the lost garments. The moral of this
story is that all men are more concerned to recover
what they lose than to acquire what they lack. The

(07:40):
Dog and the Wolf. A dog was lying in the
sun before a farmyard gate when a wolf pounced upon
him and was just going to eat him up. But
the dog begged for his life and said, you see
how then I am, and what a wretched meal I
should make to you now. But if you will only
wait a few days, my master is going to give

(08:01):
a feast all the rich scraps and pickings will fall
to me, and I shall get nice and fat. Then
will be the time for you to eat me. Wolfe
thought this was a very good plan and went away.
Sometime afterwards, he came to the farmyard again and found
the dog lying out of each on the stable roof.
Come down, he called, unbeaten, you remember our agreement, But

(08:24):
the dog said coolly, my friend. If you catch me
lying down by the gate there again, do you wait
for any feast? Moral here is once bitten twice shy.
The wasp and the snake. A wasp settled on the
head of a snake and not only stung him several times,

(08:47):
but clung obstinately to the head of his victim. Maddened
with pain, the snake tried every means he could think
of to get rid of the creature, but without success.
At last he became desperate and crying, kill you. I will,
even at the cost of my own life. He laid
his head with the wasponnet under the wheel of a

(09:10):
passing wagon, and they both perished together. The Eagle and
the beetle. An eagle was chasing a hare who was
running for dear life, and was at her WIT's end
to know where to turn for help. Presently, she espied
a beetle and begged it to aid her. So when

(09:33):
the eagle came up, the beetle warned her not to touch
the hair, which was under its protection. But the eagle
never noticed the beetle because it was so small, then
seized the hare and ate her up. The beetle never
forgot this and kept an eye on the eagle's nest,
and whenever the eagle laid an egg, it climbed up

(09:56):
and rolled it out of the nest and broke it.
At last, the eagle got so worried over the loss
of her eggs that she went up to Jupiter with
the special protector of eagles, and begged him to give
her a safe place to nest in. So he let
her lay her eggs in his lap. But the beetle
noticed this and made a ball of dirt the size

(10:18):
of an eagle's egg, and flew up and deposited it
in Jupiter's lap. When Jupiter saw the dirt, he stood
up to shake it out of his robe, and, forgetting
about the eggs, he shook them out too, and they
were broken, just as before. Ever since then, they say
eagles never lay their eggs at the season when beetles

(10:41):
are about the moral of this story is that the
weak will sometimes find ways to avenge an insult even
upon the strong. The Fowler and the Lark. A fowler
was setting his nets for little birds, when a lark
came up to him and asked him what he was doing.

(11:04):
I am engaged in founding a city, said he, And
with that he withdrew to a short distance and concealed himself.
The lark examined the nets with great curiosity, and, presently
catching sight of the bait, hopped onto them in order
to secure it. Became entangled in the meshes. The fowler

(11:27):
then ran up quickly and captured her. What a fool
I was, said she. But at any rate, if that's
the kind of city you are founding, it'll be a
long time before you find fools enough to fill it.
The fisherman piping A fisherman who could play the flute

(11:49):
went down one day to the seashore with his nets
and his flute, and, taking his stand on a projecting rock,
began to play a tune, Thinking that the music would
bring the fish jumping out of the sea. He went
on playing for some time, but not a fish appeared,
so at last he threw down his flute and cast

(12:10):
his net into the sea and made a great hole
of fish. When they were landed and he saw them
leaping about on the shore, he cried, you raskholes. You
wouldn't dance when I piped, But now that I've stopped,
you can do nothing else. The weasel and the man.

(12:30):
A man once caught a weasel which was always sneaking
about the house, and was just going to drown it
in a tub of water, when it begged hard for
its life, and said to him, surely you haven't the
heart to put me to death. Think how useful I
have been in clearing your house of all the mice
and lizards which used to invest it, and show your

(12:53):
gratitude by sparing my life. You have not been altogether useless,
I grant you, said the man. But who killed the
fowls who stole the meat? No, no, you do much
more harm than good, and die you shall. The plowman,

(13:15):
the ass and the ox. A plowman yoked his ox
and his ass together and set to work to ply
his field. It was a poor makeshift of a team
but it was the best he could do, as he
had but a single ox. At the end of the day,
when the beasts were loosed from the yoke, the ass
said to the ox, well, we've had a hard day.

(13:38):
Which of us is to carry the master home? The
ox looked surprised at the question. Why, said he you
to be sure as usual. End of Section fifteen