Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
226. THE FLEA AND THE OX
Perry 273 (Chambry
358)
A flea once asked an ox, 'Given that you are so exceedingly large and
strong, why do you suffer this enslavement to people day after day? Look
at me: I lacerate their flesh without pity, drinking great gulps of their
blood!' The ox said, 'I cannot help but be grateful to the human race,
since I am cherished and loved by them to an extraordinary degree, and
since they often rub my forehead and shoulders.' The flea admitted, 'Woe
is me! This rubbing of which you are so fond is the worst thing that can
happen to me: when they do that, I die.'
This fable shows that braggarts can be easily exposed.
Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
|