Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
234. THE HORSE AND THE GOATS
Perry 578 (Romulus
4.16)
Sometimes lesser folk are accustomed to speak disparagingly to one
another about their superiors; listen to a fable on this topic.
There were three goats who saw a terrified horse running away from a lion.
The goats made fun of the horse, and the horse replied, 'O you hopeless
fools, if only you knew who was chasing me! Then you would be just as
terrified as I am.'
People with excellent qualities are often insulted by their inferiors.
Note: In Steinhowel (4.14), the fable is about three smaller goats
who make fun of a larger goat who is running from a lion while in Caxton
(4.14) the story concerns 'thre lytyll hedgehogges / whiche mocked
a grete hedgehogge / whiche fled byfore a wulf.'
 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.
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