Aesop’s Fables, part 1 Aesop’s Fables, part 1 of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop: the whole text, 147 sentences and 2533 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself.
1 The Lion And The Mouse 2 A LION was awakened from sleep by a Mouse running over his face. 3 Rising up angrily, he caught him and was about to kill him, when the Mouse piteously entreated, saying: “If you would only spare my life, I would be sure to repay your kindness.” 4 The Lion laughed and let him go. 5 It happened shortly after this that the Lion was caught by some hunters, who bound him by strong ropes to the ground. 6 The Mouse, recognizing his roar, came and gnawed the rope with his teeth, and set him free, exclaiming: 7 “You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you, not expecting to receive from me any repayment of your favour; now you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to confer benefits on a Lion.” 8 The Wolf And The Lamb 9 WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf’s right to eat him. 10 He thus addressed him: “Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.” 11 “Indeed,” bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, “I was not then born.” 12 Then said the Wolf, “You feed in my pasture.” 13 “No, good sir,” replied the Lamb, “I have not yet tasted grass.” 14 Again said the Wolf, “You drink of my well.” 15 “No,” exclaimed the Lamb, “I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.” 16 Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, “Well! 17 I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.” 18 The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny. 19 The Ass And The Grasshopper 20 AN ASS having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. 21 They replied, “The dew.” 22 The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger. 23 The Wolf and the Crane 24 A WOLF who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a Crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. 25 When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: “Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf.” 26 In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains. 27 The Father And His Sons 28 A FATHER had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. 29 When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. 30 When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. 31 They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. 32 He next opened the faggot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons’ hands, upon which they broke them easily. 33 He then addressed them in these words: “My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks.” 34 The Bat And The Weasels 35 A BAT who fell upon the ground and was caught by a Weasel pleaded to be spared his life. 36 The Weasel refused, saying that he was by nature the enemy of all birds. 37 The Bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free. 38 Shortly afterwards the Bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another Weasel, whom he likewise entreated not to eat him. 39 The Weasel said that he had a special hostility to mice. 40 The Bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped. 41 It is wise to turn circumstances to good account. 42 The Cock and the Jewel 43 A COCK, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: “If your owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; but I have found thee for no purpose. 44 I would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world.” 45 The Swallow and the Crow 46 THE SWALLOW and the Crow had a contention about their plumage. 47 The Crow put an end to the dispute by saying, “Your feathers are all very well in the spring, but mine protect me against the winter.” 48 Fair weather friends are not worth much. 49 The Kingdom of the Lion 50 THE BEASTS of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. 51 He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king could be. 52 During his reign he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league, in which the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity. 53 The Hare said, “Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong.” 54 And after the Hare said this, he ran for his life. 55 The Traveler and His Dog 56 A TRAVELER about to set out on a journey saw his Dog stand at the door stretching himself. 57 He asked him sharply: “Why do you stand there gaping? 58 Everything is ready but you, so come with me instantly.” 59 The Dog, wagging his tail, replied: “O, master! 60 I am quite ready; it is you for whom I am waiting.” 61 The loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend. 62 The Ants and the Grasshopper 63 THE ANTS were spending a fine winter’s day drying grain collected in the summertime. 64 A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. 65 The Ants inquired of him, “Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?” 66 He replied, “I had not leisure enough. 67 I passed the days in singing.” 68 They then said in derision: “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.” 69 The Hare and the Tortoise 70 A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.” 71 The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. 72 On the day appointed for the race the two started together. 73 The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. 74 The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. 75 At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue. 76 Slow but steady wins the race. 77 The Charcoal-Burner And The Fuller 78 A CHARCOAL-BURNER carried on his trade in his own house. 79 One day he met a friend, a Fuller, and entreated him to come and live with him, saying that they should be far better neighbors and that their housekeeping expenses would be lessened. 80 The Fuller replied, “The arrangement is impossible as far as I am concerned, for whatever I should whiten, you would immediately blacken again with your charcoal.” 81 Like will draw like. 82 The Boy Hunting Locusts 83 A BOY was hunting for locusts. 84 He had caught a goodly number, when he saw a Scorpion, and mistaking him for a locust, reached out his hand to take him. 85 The Scorpion, showing his sting, said: “If you had but touched me, my friend, you would have lost me, and all your locusts too!” 86 The Fisherman Piping 87 A FISHERMAN skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the seashore. 88 Standing on a projecting rock, he played several tunes in the hope that the fish, attracted by his melody, would of their own accord dance into his net, which he had placed below. 89 At last, having long waited in vain, he laid aside his flute, and casting his net into the sea, made an excellent haul of fish. 90 When he saw them leaping about in the net upon the rock he said: “O you most perverse creatures, when I piped you would not dance, but now that I have ceased you do so merrily.” 91 The Dog and the Shadow 92 A DOG, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. 93 He immediately let go of his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him. 94 He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away. 95 Hercules and the Wagoner 96 A CARTER was driving a wagon along a country lane, when the wheels sank down deep into a rut. 97 The rustic driver, stupefied and aghast, stood looking at the wagon, and did nothing but utter loud cries to Hercules to come and help him. 98 Hercules, it is said, appeared and thus addressed him: “Put your shoulders to the wheels, my man. 99 Goad on your bullocks, and never more pray to me for help, until you have done your best to help yourself, or depend upon it you will henceforth pray in vain.” 100 Self-help is the best help. ← previous Life of Aesopnext → Aesop’s Fables, part 2↑ back to Three hundred Aesop’s fables This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/3/