Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
397. THE SHEEP, THE GOAT AND THE SOW
Perry 85 (Aphthonius
30)
A story about a sow, teaching us to give each man his due.
A man had rounded up a sow, a goat and a sheep from his farm. While the
donkey carried them all to the city, the goat and the sheep settled down
quietly, but the sow's screams bothered their chauffeur, so the donkey
said to the sow, 'Why on earth can't you go along quietly like the others?'
The sow replied, 'The goat is being brought here for her milk, the sheep
for his wool, but for me this is a matter of life and death!'
Each man has his own reason for acting as he does.
Note: There is a similar observation in the Life of Aesop 48, when
Aesop explains why the sheep is silent when being led to slaughter but
the pig squeals: the sheep is accustomed to being milked or being sheared,
so she does not expect the fate that awaits her, while the pig knows
only one reason for being taken away.
 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.
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