Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
78. THE SHEEP, THE SHEPHERD AND HIS CLOAK
Perry 208 (Chambry
316 *)
A shepherd had driven his sheep into a stand of oaks. He then spread
his cloak under an oak tree and climbed up into the tree in order to shake
the acorns down. As the sheep ate the acorns, they also ate the shepherd's
cloak, unbeknownst to the shepherd. The shepherd then climbed down from
the tree and when he saw what had happened, he said, 'Oh you wicked creatures!
You give wool to other people so that they can make clothes but you take
my clothes and ruin them, even though I am the one who feeds you!'
The fable shows that people frequently do favours for someone who has
nothing to do with them, while treating their own family members unkindly.
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.
|