Aesop’s Fables, part 9 · page 21 2101From that hour he found that instead of obtaining revenge on the Stag, he had enslaved himself to the service of man.102The Jackdaw and the Doves103A JACKDAW, seeing some Doves in a cote abundantly provided with food, painted himself white and joined them in order to share their plentiful maintenance.104The Doves, as long as he was silent, supposed him to be one of themselves and admitted him to their cote.105But when one day he forgot himself and began to chatter, they discovered his true character and drove him forth, pecking him with their beaks.106Failing to obtain food among the Doves, he returned to the Jackdaws.107They too, not recognizing him on account of his color, expelled him from living with them.108So desiring two ends, he obtained neither.109The Fox and the Monkey110A FOX and a Monkey were traveling together on the same road.111As they journeyed, they passed through a cemetery full of monuments.112“All these monuments which you see,” said the Monkey, “are erected in honour of my ancestors, who were in their day freedmen and citizens of great renown.”113The Fox replied, “You have chosen a most appropriate subject for your falsehoods, as I am sure none of your ancestors will be able to contradict you.”114A false tale often betrays itself.115The Man and His Wife116A MAN had a Wife who made herself hated by all the members of his household.117Wishing to find out if she had the same effect on the persons in her father’s house, he made some excuse to send her home on a visit to her father.118After a short time she returned, and when he inquired how she had got on and how the servants had treated her, she replied, “The herdsmen and shepherds cast on me looks of aversion.”119He said, “O Wife, if you were disliked by those who go out early in the morning with their flocks and return late in the evening, what must have been felt towards you by those with whom you passed the whole day!”120Straws show how the wind blows.121The Man, the Horse, the Ox, and the Dog122A HORSE, Ox, and Dog, driven to great straits by the cold, sought shelter and protection from Man.123He received them kindly, lighted a fire, and warmed them.124He let the Horse make free with his oats, gave the Ox an abundance of hay, and fed the Dog with meat from his own table.125Grateful for these favours, the animals determined to repay him to the best of their ability.126For this purpose, they divided the term of his life between them, and each endowed one portion of it with the qualities which chiefly characterized himself.127The Horse chose his earliest years and gave them his own attributes: hence every man is in his youth impetuous, headstrong, and obstinate in maintaining his own opinion.128The Ox took under his patronage the next term of life, and therefore man in his middle age is fond of work, devoted to labor, and resolute to amass wealth and to husband his resources.129The end of life was reserved for the Dog, wherefore the old man is often snappish, irritable, hard to please, and selfish, tolerant only of his own household, but averse to strangers and to all who do not administer to his comfort or to his necessities.1 2← previousAesop’s Fables, part 8next →Aesop’s Fables, part 10↑ back to Three hundred Aesop’s fablesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/page/2/