Aesop’s Fables, part 14 · page 21 2101However, when the Horseman got the hare, he rode off as fast as he could.102The Hunter ran after him, as if he was sure of overtaking him, but the Horseman increased more and more the distance between them.103The Hunter, sorely against his will, called out to him and said, “Get along with you! for I will now make you a present of the hare.”104The Olive-Tree and the Fig-Tree105THE OLIVE-TREE ridiculed the Fig-Tree because, while she was green all the year round, the Fig-Tree changed its leaves with the seasons.106A shower of snow fell upon them, and, finding the Olive full of foliage, it settled upon its branches and broke them down with its weight, at once despoiling it of its beauty and killing the tree.107But finding the Fig-Tree denuded of leaves, the snow fell through to the ground, and did not injure it at all.108The Frogs’ Complaint Against the Sun109ONCE UPON A TIME, when the Sun announced his intention to take a wife, the Frogs lifted up their voices in clamor to the sky.110Jupiter, disturbed by the noise of their croaking, inquired the cause of their complaint.111One of them said, “The Sun, now while he is single, parches up the marsh, and compels us to die miserably in our arid homes.112What will be our future condition if he should beget other suns?”113The Brazier and His Dog114A BRAZIER had a little Dog, which was a great favourite with his master, and his constant companion.115While he hammered away at his metals the Dog slept; but when, on the other hand, he went to dinner and began to eat, the Dog woke up and wagged his tail, as if he would ask for a share of his meal.116His master one day, pretending to be angry and shaking his stick at him, said, “You wretched little sluggard! what shall I do to you?117While I am hammering on the anvil, you sleep on the mat; and when I begin to eat after my toil, you wake up and wag your tail for food.118Do you not know that labor is the source of every blessing, and that none but those who work are entitled to eat?”119FOOTNOTES1201 (return) [ A History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, by K. O.121Mueller.122Vol. i, p. 191.123_London_, Parker, 1858.]1242 (return) [ Select Fables of Æsop, and other Fabulists.125In three books, translated by Robert Dodsley, accompanied with a selection of notes, and an Essay on Fable.126_Birmingham_, 1864.127P. 60.]1283 (return) [ Some of these fables had, no doubt, in the first instance, a primary and private interpretation.129On the first occasion of their being composed they were intended to refer to some passing event, or to some individual acts of wrong-doing.130Thus, the fables of the “Eagle and the Fox” and of the “Fox and Monkey” are supposed to have been written by Archilochus, to avenge the injuries done him by Lycambes.131So also the fables of the “Swollen Fox” and of the “Frogs asking a King” were spoken by Æsop for the immediate purpose of reconciling the inhabitants of Samos and Athens to their respective rulers, Periander and Pisistratus; while the fable of the “Horse and Stag” was composed to caution the inhabitants of Himera against granting a bodyguard to Phalaris.132In a similar manner, the fable from Phædrus, the “Marriage of the Sun,” is supposed to have reference to the contemplated union of Livia, the daughter of Drusus, with Sejanus the favourite, and minister of Trajan.133These fables, however, though thus originating in special events, and designed at first to meet special circumstances, are so admirably constructed as to be fraught with lessons of general utility, and of universal application.]1 2← previousAesop’s Fables, part 13next →Aesop’s Fables, part 15↑ back to Three hundred Aesop’s fablesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/16/page/2/