Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
43. A LEAGUE BETWIXT THE WOLVES AND THE SHEEP (Perry
153)
There was a Time when the Sheep were so hardy as to wage War with the
Wolves: and so long as they had the Dogs for their Allies, they were upon
all Encounters, at least a Match for their Enemies. Upon this Consideration,
the Wolves sent their Embassadors to the Sheep, to treat about a Peace,
and in the mean Time there were Hostages given on both sides; the Dogs
on the Part of the Sheep, and the Wolves Whelps on the other Part, till
the Matters might be brought to an Issue. While they were upon Treaty,
the Whelps fell a howling; the Wolves cry’d out Treason; and pretending
an Infraction in the Abuse of their Hostages, fell upon the Sheep immediately
without their Dogs, and made them pay for the Improvidence of leaving
themselves without a Guard.
THE MORAL. ‘Tis Senseless in the highest Degree, to think of establishing
an Alliance among those that Nature herself has divided by an irreconcilable
Disagreement. Beside that a foolish Peace is much more destructive than
a bloody War.
 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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