Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
109. A FATHER AND HIS SONS (Perry 42)
A Countryman that liv’d handsomly in the World himself upon his honest
Labour and Industry, was desirous his Sons should do so after him; and
being now upon his Death-bed: [My dear Children] (says he) I reckon myself
bound to tell you before I depart, that there is a considerable Treasure
hid in my Vineyard; wherefore pray be sure to dig, and search narrowly
for’t when I am gone.] The Father dies, and the Sons fall immediately
to work upon the Vineyard. They turn’d it up and over, and not one penny
of Money to be found there, but the Profit of the next Vintage expounded
the Riddle.
THE MORAL. Good Counsel is the best Legacy a Father can leave to a
Child, and it is still the better, when it is so wrapt up, as to beget
a Curiosity as well as an Inclination to follow it.
 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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