Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
163. TWO TRAVELLERS AND A BAG OF MONEY (Perry
67)
As Two Travellers were upon the Way together, One of ‘em Stoops and taken
up Something. Look ye here (says he) I have found a Bag of Money: No says
T’other, When Two Friends are together, You must not say [I] have found
it, but [WE] have found it. The Word was no sooner Out, but immediately
comes a Hue and Cry after a Gang of Thieves that had taken a Purse upon
the Road. Lord! Brother (says he that had the Bag) We shall be Utterly
Undone. Oh Phy, says T’other, You must not say [WE] shall be undone, but
[I] shall be undone. For I’m to have no Part in the Findings, sure I’ll
never go Halves in the Hanging.
THE MORAL. They that will Enter into Leagues and Partnerships must
take the Good and the Bad, One with Another.
 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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