Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
104. A FOX AND HUNTSMEN (Perry 22)
A Fox that had been hard run, begg’d of a Countryman that he saw at work
in a Wood, to help him to some Hiding-Place. The Man directed him to his
Cottage, and thither he went. He was no sooner got in, but the Huntsmen
were presently at the Heels of him, and asked the Cottager if he did not
see a Fox that way? No truly, says he, I saw none: but pointed at the
same time with his Finger to the place where he lay. The Huntsmen did
not take the Hint, it seems, but the Fox spy’d him, however, through a
Peeping-Hole he had found out to see what News: So the Fox-Hunters went
their way , and then out-steals the Fox without one Word speaking. Why
how now, says the Man, han’t ye the Manners to take leave of your Host
before you go? Yes, yes, says the Fox, if you had been as honest of your
Fingers, as you were of your Tongue, I should not have gone without bidding
ye farewel.
THE MORAL. A Man may tell a lye by Signs, as well as in Words at length,
and his Conscience is as answerable for his Fingers as for his Tongue.
L'Estrange originally published his version of the fables in 1692. There is a
very nice illustrated edition in the Children's Classics series by Knopf: Sir
Roger L'Estrange. Aesop
- Fables which is available at amazon.com.
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