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Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)

167. The Crab and the Fox (Perry 116)

A CRAB, forsaking the seashore, chose a neighboring green meadow as its feeding ground. A Fox came across him, and being very hungry ate him up. Just as he was on the point of being eaten, the Crab said, 'I well deserve my fate, for what business had I on the land, when by my nature and habits I am only adapted for the sea?'
Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.

George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project Gutenberg. Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google Books.