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Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)

34. The Oxen and the Axle-Trees (Perry 45)

A HEAVY WAGON was being dragged along a country lane by a team of Oxen. The Axle-trees groaned and creaked terribly; whereupon the Oxen, turning round, thus addressed the wheels: 'Hullo there! Why do you make so much noise? We bear all the labor, and we, not you, ought to cry out.'
Those who suffer most cry out the least.


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.