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

38. THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD
Perry 234 (Chambry 229)

A wolf followed along after a flock of sheep without doing them any harm. At first the shepherd kept his eye on the wolf as a potential enemy to the flock and never let him out of his sight. But as the wolf continued to accompany the shepherd and did not make any kind of attempt to raid the flock, the shepherd eventually began to regard the wolf more as a guardian of the flock than as a threat. Then, when the shepherd happened to have to go to town, he commended the sheep to the wolf in his absence. The wolf seized his chance and attacked the sheep, slaughtering most of the flock. When the shepherd came back and saw that his flock had been utterly destroyed, he said, 'It serves me right! How could I have ever trusted my sheep to a wolf?'
The same is true of people: if you entrust your bank deposits to greedy men, you are certain to get robbed.

Note: 'Leaving the sheep to be watched by the wolves' was already a Roman proverb (e.g., Plautus, Pseudolus 141).

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.