Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
390. THE WOLF AND THE RAVEN
Perry 190 (Chambry
274)
A donkey who had a sore on his back was grazing in a meadow. A raven
alighted on his back and began to peck at the wound, while the donkey
brayed and reared up on his hind legs in pain. The donkey's driver, meanwhile,
stood off at a distance and laughed. A wolf who was passing by saw the
whole thing and said to himself, 'How unfairly we wolves are treated!
When people so much as catch a glimpse of us, they drive us away, but
when someone like that raven makes his move, everyone just smiles at him.'
The fable shows that even before they act, dangerous people can be
recognized at a distance.
Note: L'Estrange provides a delightful
epimythium: 'One Man may better Steal a Horse, than Another Look over
the Hedge.'
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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