Aesop’s Fables, part 4 Aesop’s Fables, part 4 of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop: the whole text, 130 sentences and 2537 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself; 2 of them are in the tales treebank and were checked by a teacher model.
1 The Ox and the Frog 2 AN OX drinking at a pool trod on a brood of young frogs and crushed one of them to death. 3 The Mother coming up, and missing one of her sons, inquired of his brothers what had become of him. 4 “He is dead, dear Mother; for just now a very huge beast with four great feet came to the pool and crushed him to death with his cloven heel.” 5 The Frog, puffing herself out, inquired, “if the beast was as big as that in size.” 6 “Cease, Mother, to puff yourself out,” said her son, “and do not be angry; for you would, I assure you, sooner burst than successfully imitate the hugeness of that monster.” 7 The Farmer and His Sons 8 A FATHER, being on the point of death, wished to be sure that his sons would give the same attention to his farm as he himself had given it. 9 He called them to his bedside and said, “My sons, there is a great treasure hid in one of my vineyards.” 10 The sons, after his death, took their spades and mattocks and carefully dug over every portion of their land. 11 They found no treasure, but the vines repaid their labor by an extraordinary and superabundant crop. 12 The Heifer and the Ox 13 A HEIFER saw an Ox hard at work harnessed to a plow, and tormented him with reflections on his unhappy fate in being compelled to labor. 14 Shortly afterwards, at the harvest festival, the owner released the Ox from his yoke, but bound the Heifer with cords and led him away to the altar to be slain in honour of the occasion. 15 The Ox saw what was being done, and said with a smile to the Heifer: “For this you were allowed to live in idleness, because you were presently to be sacrificed.” 16 The Fighting Cocks and the Eagle 17 TWO GAME COCKS were fiercely fighting for the mastery of the farmyard. 18 One at last put the other to flight. 19 The vanquished Cock skulked away and hid himself in a quiet corner, while the conqueror, flying up to a high wall, flapped his wings and crowed exultingly with all his might. 20 An Eagle sailing through the air pounced upon him and carried him off in his talons. 21 The vanquished Cock immediately came out of his corner, and ruled henceforth with undisputed mastery. 22 Pride goes before destruction. 23 The Charger and the Miller 24 A CHARGER, feeling the infirmities of age, was sent to work in a mill instead of going out to battle. 25 But when he was compelled to grind instead of serving in the wars, he bewailed his change of fortune and called to mind his former state, saying, “Ah! 26 Miller, I had indeed to go campaigning before, but I was barbed from counter to tail, and a man went along to groom me; and now I cannot understand what ailed me to prefer the mill before the battle.” 27 “Forbear,” said the Miller to him, “harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune.” 28 The Fox and the Monkey 29 A MONKEY once danced in an assembly of the Beasts, and so pleased them all by his performance that they elected him their King. 30 A Fox, envying him the honour, discovered a piece of meat lying in a trap, and leading the Monkey to the place where it was, said that she had found a store, but had not used it, she had kept it for him as treasure trove of his kingdom, and counseled him to lay hold of it. 31 The Monkey approached carelessly and was caught in the trap; and on his accusing the Fox of purposely leading him into the snare, she replied, “O Monkey, and are you, with such a mind as yours, going to be King over the Beasts?” 32 The Horse and His Rider 33 A HORSE SOLDIER took the utmost pains with his charger. 34 As long as the war lasted, he looked upon him as his fellow-helper in all emergencies and fed him carefully with hay and corn. 35 But when the war was over, he only allowed him chaff to eat and made him carry heavy loads of wood, subjecting him to much slavish drudgery and ill-treatment. 36 War was again proclaimed, however, and when the trumpet summoned him to his standard, the Soldier put on his charger its military trappings, and mounted, being clad in his heavy coat of mail. 37 The Horse fell down straightway under the weight, no longer equal to the burden, and said to his master, “You must now go to the war on foot, for you have transformed me from a Horse into an Ass; and how can you expect that I can again turn in a moment from an Ass to a Horse?” 38 The Belly and the Members 39 THE MEMBERS of the Body rebelled against the Belly, and said, “Why should we be perpetually engaged in administering to your wants, while you do nothing but take your rest, and enjoy yourself in luxury and self-indulgence?” 40 The Members carried out their resolve and refused their assistance to the Belly. 41 The whole Body quickly became debilitated, and the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes, when too late, repented of their folly. 42 The Widow and Her Little Maidens 43 A WIDOW who was fond of cleaning had two little maidens to wait on her. 44 She was in the habit of waking them early in the morning, at cockcrow. 45 The maidens, aggravated by such excessive labor, resolved to kill the cock who roused their mistress so early. 46 When they had done this, they found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for their mistress, no longer hearing the hour from the cock, woke them up to their work in the middle of the night. 47 The Vine and the Goat 48 A VINE was luxuriant in the time of vintage with leaves and grapes. 49 A Goat, passing by, nibbled its young tendrils and its leaves. 50 The Vine addressed him and said: “Why do you thus injure me without a cause, and crop my leaves? 51 Is there no young grass left? 52 But I shall not have to wait long for my just revenge; for if you now should crop my leaves, and cut me down to my root, I shall provide the wine to pour over you when you are led as a victim to the sacrifice.” 53 Jupiter and the Monkey 54 JUPITER ISSUED a proclamation to all the beasts of the forest and promised a royal reward to the one whose offspring should be deemed the handsomest. 55 The Monkey came with the rest and presented, with all a mother’s tenderness, a flat-nosed, hairless, ill-featured young Monkey as a candidate for the promised reward. 56 A general laugh saluted her on the presentation of her son. 57 She resolutely said, “I know not whether Jupiter will allot the prize to my son, but this I do know, that he is at least in the eyes of me his mother, the dearest, handsomest, and most beautiful of all.” 58 The Hawk, the Kite, and the Pigeons 59 THE PIGEONS, terrified by the appearance of a Kite, called upon the Hawk to defend them. 60 He at once consented. 61 When they had admitted him into the cote, they found that he made more havoc and slew a larger number of them in one day than the Kite could pounce upon in a whole year. 62 Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease. 63 The Dolphins, the Whales, and the Sprat 64 THE DOLPHINS and Whales waged a fierce war with each other. 65 When the battle was at its height, a Sprat lifted its head out of the waves and said that he would reconcile their differences if they would accept him as an umpire. checked by a teacher 66 One of the Dolphins replied, “We would far rather be destroyed in our battle with each other than admit any interference from you in our affairs.” 67 The Swallow, the Serpent, and the Court of Justice 68 A SWALLOW, returning from abroad and especially fond of dwelling with men, built herself a nest in the wall of a Court of Justice and there hatched seven young birds. 69 A Serpent gliding past the nest from its hole in the wall ate up the young unfledged nestlings. 70 The Swallow, finding her nest empty, lamented greatly and exclaimed: “Woe to me a stranger! that in this place where all others’ rights are protected, I alone should suffer wrong.” 71 The Two Pots 72 A RIVER carried down in its stream two Pots, one made of earthenware and the other of brass. 73 The Earthen Pot said to the Brass Pot, “Pray keep at a distance and do not come near me, for if you touch me ever so slightly, I shall be broken in pieces, and besides, I by no means wish to come near you.” 74 Equals make the best friends. 75 The Shepherd and the Wolf 76 A SHEPHERD once found the whelp of a Wolf and brought it up, and after a while taught it to steal lambs from the neighboring flocks. 77 The Wolf, having shown himself an apt pupil, said to the Shepherd, “Since you have taught me to steal, you must keep a sharp lookout, or you will lose some of your own flock.” 78 The Crab and Its Mother 79 A CRAB said to her son, “Why do you walk so one-sided, my child? 80 It is far more becoming to go straight forward.” 81 The young Crab replied: “Quite true, dear Mother; and if you will show me the straight way, I will promise to walk in it.” 82 The Mother tried in vain, and submitted without remonstrance to the reproof of her child. 83 Example is more powerful than precept. 84 The Father and His Two Daughters 85 A MAN had two daughters, the one married to a gardener, and the other to a tile-maker. 86 After a time he went to the daughter who had married the gardener, and inquired how she was and how all things went with her. 87 She said, “All things are prospering with me, and I have only one wish, that there may be a heavy fall of rain, in order that the plants may be well watered.” 88 Not long after, he went to the daughter who had married the tilemaker, and likewise inquired of her how she fared; she replied, “I want for nothing, and have only one wish, that the dry weather may continue, and the sun shine hot and bright, so that the bricks might be dried.” 89 He said to her, “If your sister wishes for rain, and you for dry weather, with which of the two am I to join my wishes?” 90 The Thief and His Mother 91 A BOY stole a lesson-book from one of his schoolfellows and took it home to his Mother. 92 She not only abstained from beating him, but encouraged him. 93 He next time stole a cloak and brought it to her, and she again commended him. 94 The Youth, advanced to adulthood, proceeded to steal things of still greater value. 95 At last he was caught in the very act, and having his hands bound behind him, was led away to the place of public execution. 96 His Mother followed in the crowd and violently beat her breast in sorrow, whereupon the young man said, “I wish to say something to my Mother in her ear.” 97 She came close to him, and he quickly seized her ear with his teeth and bit it off. 98 The Mother upbraided him as an unnatural child, whereon he replied, “Ah! if you had beaten me when I first stole and brought to you that lesson-book, I should not have come to this, nor have been thus led to a disgraceful death.” 99 The Old Man and Death 100 AN OLD MAN was employed in cutting wood in the forest, and, in carrying the faggots to the city for sale one day, became very wearied with his long journey. ← previous Aesop’s Fables, part 3next → Aesop’s Fables, part 5↑ back to Three hundred Aesop’s fables This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/