Fable #416

previous | next

One day a shepherd discovered a fat Pig in the meadow where his Sheep were pastured. Under his kindly appearance, he bears a grudge against every one of us. Once they decided to die rather than live in such misery. What makes you squeal like that? asked one of the Sheep. He very quickly captured the porker, which squealed at the top of its voice the moment the Shepherd laid his hands on it. So one day he climbed up on a shelf and hung from it, head downward, as if he were dead, holding himself up by clinging to some ropes with one paw. They soon began to quarrel, for each of them boasted that he and his kind were far superior to the other both in strength and mind. The Boys amused themselves by throwing stones into the pond so as to make them skip on top of the water. Goodby, he said, I've seen enough. What use is it, said another, to read the stars, when you can't see what's right here on the earth?

Do not tell others how to act unless you can set a good example.