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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

378. THE MAN AND THE WEASEL
Perry 293 (Phaedrus 1.22)

A man caught a weasel but the weasel, hoping to escape her imminent demise, pleaded with the man. 'Spare me, please,' she said, 'since I am the creature who rids your house of pesky mice.' 'If you chased those mice on my behalf,' replied the man, 'I would be grateful indeed and would spare you. But the fact is that you do the work in order to enjoy the remains of what the mice are going to nibble, and also eat the mice themselves. So don't expect any gratitude from me for your so-called favours!' With these words, the man consigned the treacherous creature to her doom.
You should recognize that this is a story about you, if you are the sort of person who takes care of your own private business while vainly boasting to gullible people that you are doing them a favour.

Note: For a similar fable about the cat, the mice and the cheese, see Fable 435.


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.