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Random Fables

Those are just random fables I found around or know.

The Fox and the Grapes

The Fox and the Grapes, Aesop

A fox one found his way into a very fine garden.
I supposed he had missed his road, for the favourite walk of the fox is into the poultry-yard, that he may pick up a chicken or two for his dinner.
Here there were a great many fine flowers; but the fox did not care for that.
Men are very fond of flowers, and so are bees and other insects; but birds and beasts think nothing about them; you never saw either smell at a rose.
There was also a great deal of fine fruit; and, as the fox was found of grapes, I dare say he was delighted to see the apples and pears and nectarines and peaches.
He walked up and down the garden, and was so pleased with every thing, that for the life of him he did not know what to chase.
At last, he came to a wall that was all covered with the finest grapes you ever saw.
They were full of juice almost ready to burst; the purple ones were turned black, and the green were so ripe, that they looked as if you could see through them.
Well, the wall wasn’t exactly covered, the humans living around had gathered all the clusters that hung within their reach; but higher up, the vines were still full.
The moment the fox saw them, his choice was fixed: he resolved to make his dinner here without seeking any further.
The fox is a very little animal, though he is very nimble.
His ambition was greater than his strenght.
He jumped and jumped, you never saw such jumps in your life.
First, he could not jump high enough; but afterwards he mended his jumps, and he jumped as high as the clusters.
But not a single grape he could catch.
At last, he was quite tired and almost lame with the efforts he had made.
The fox was extremely mortified.
He looked up; there hung the grapes, but not one for him!
He determined then to carry off his disappoinment with a spirit.
“What a fool have I been!” said he.
“I can see now plain enough that the grapes are sour, and not fit to be eaten.”

The Crow and the Fox

The Crow and the Fox, Jean de la Fontaine, 1668

Master Crow, perched on a tree,
Was holding a cheese within his beak.
Master Fox, enticed by the smell, Held this discourse:
Hello dear Mister Crow.
You are good and you seem nice!
Without lying, I think your warbling
Is as nice as your plumage,
You are the Phoenix of those woods.
To those words, the Crow was full of joy:
And to show his nice voice,
Opened his beak wide open, letting his prey escape.
The Fox immediately grabbed it and said:
My dear sir,
Please learn that any flatterer
Lives at the expenses of the ones that listens to them.
This lesson is probably worth a cheese.
The crow, ashamed and confused
Swore, but a bit too late, that we shall never caught again.