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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

81. THE NUT TREE AND THE PEOPLE
Perry 250 (Chambry 152 *)

There was a nut tree standing by the side of the road who had a great many nuts and the people walking along the road used to knock them off by throwing sticks and stones at the tree. The nut tree then said sadly, 'Woe is me! People gladly enjoy my fruits, but they have a terrible way of showing their gratitude.'
The fable indicts those ungrateful and wicked people who requite good deeds with cruelty.

Note: The moral in Alciato, Emblems 193 is somewhat different: the nut tree laments that the fruit she produces is the cause of her own destruction.


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.