Someone whose nature is to prey on people like you comes friendly, praising, inviting or offering peace, and what they propose would put you in reach.
prudence + relationships.predator -relationships.predator + standing riskwit + relationships.predator -wit + relationships.predator - flags.turned_the_tables setmoney - standing -A fox trapped in a well praises the water to a goat, climbs out on the goat's back, and leaves him there.
Moral: Look before you leap.
An old lion feigns sickness and eats his visitors, until the fox notices tracks going in and none coming out.
Moral: He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others.
Wolves persuade the sheep to send away their guard dogs for peace, and then devour the unguarded flock.
A cat disguised as a doctor offers to treat ailing birds, who say they will stay well if he goes away.
A jealous fox leads the newly elected monkey king into a trap, then mocks him as unfit to rule.
A wounded wolf asks a passing sheep to fetch him water, and the sheep sees he would make her the meat as well.
Moral: Hypocritical speeches are easily seen through.
A fox flatters a crow's beauty and doubts her voice, so she caws and drops her meat to him.
A cat pretends to be dead on a peg to lure the mice, and one says it will not come near her even if she turns into a sack.
Wolves urge the sheepdogs to betray the flock and live as brothers, and then tear the dogs apart.
A thief frightens an innkeeper with a tale that he turns into a wolf, and makes off with his coat.
Moral: Every tale is not to be believed.
A thief throws meat to a housedog, who says the sudden kindness only makes him more watchful.
An old weasel rolls in flour to look like food, and an old mouse sees through it.
A fox flatters a cock in a tree, who invites him to wake the 'porter' below, and the dog kills the fox.
A lion invites a bull to dine on a sheep, and the bull sees only spits and cauldrons big enough for a bull.
An owl kept awake by a grasshopper flatters her voice and invites her to drink, then kills her.
A wolf urges a goat on a cliff to come down to the tender grass, and she knows he wants to eat her.
Someone who holds your fate has caught you and is looking for a reason, and you have one chance to talk your way out.
standing risk relationships.captor -standing + relationships.captor +wit + flags.two_faced setwit + relationships.captor -relationships.colleagues - standing - flags.informer setA wolf invents one charge after another against a lamb, and when each is refuted eats him anyway.
Moral: The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
A bat caught by two weasels claims to be a mouse to one and a bird to the other, and escapes both.
Moral: It is wise to turn circumstances to good account.
A stork caught in a net with thieving cranes pleads his good character, but the farmer kills him with them.
Moral: Birds of a feather flock together.
A cat accuses a cock of crowing at night to justify eating him, and eats him despite his defence.
A woodcutter agrees to let a lion court his daughter if he gives up his teeth and claws, then drives him off.
Boys pelting frogs for fun are told by one frog that their sport is death to the frogs.
A birdcatcher spares his decoy partridge and his cock after each pleads usefulness, but still must feed his guest.
Moral: Necessity knows no law.
A swan seized by mistake for the goose sings and is known and spared.
Thieves steal a cock who pleads he wakes men to work, and they say that is why he must die.
Moral: The safeguards of virtue are hateful to those with evil intentions.
A kid caught by a wolf asks him to pipe a last dance, and the music brings hounds that chase off the wolf.
Hares argue that all beasts should be equal, and lions say the words lack claws and teeth.
An ass feigns a thorn in his hoof, and when the wolf goes to pull it he kicks his teeth in.
A captured trumpeter pleads he carried no weapon, and his captors say his trumpet roused all the others.
A partridge offers to lure other partridges if spared, and the fowler kills him for it.
Your present lot is hard, and you could change master, protector or post, though the new one may be worse.
relationships.boss - standing riskrelationships.protector + standing riskprudence +prudence + money -money risk flags.staked_all setFrogs ask Jupiter for a king, scorn the log and the eel he sends, and are given a heron who eats them.
Oxen plot to kill the butchers, but an old ox warns that clumsier ones would replace them.
Moral: Do not be in a hurry to change one evil for another.
Maids kill the cock that wakes their mistress early, and she wakes them even earlier.
Pigeons invite a hawk to protect them from a kite, and he kills more of them in a day than the kite did in a year.
Moral: Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease.
A shepherd sells his flock to trade dates by sea, loses all in a storm, and later sneers that the calm sea wants more dates.
A lean wolf admires a well-fed dog until he sees the heavy collar and log, and wants none of it.
An overworked ass keeps asking for a new master and each is worse, ending with a tanner.
A doe escaping hunters takes refuge in a lion's cave and is killed there.
Moral: In avoiding one evil, care must be taken not to fall into another.
An ass refuses to flee the enemy with his master, since any master will load him the same.
Moral: In a change of government the poor change nothing beyond the name of their master.
A wounded fox refuses to have the sated flies driven off, lest hungrier ones replace them.
A frog refuses a friend's invitation to leave his exposed gully for a safe pond and is crushed by a wagon.
Moral: A willful man will have his way to his own hurt.
A horse accepts a man's bit and saddle to get revenge on a stag, and is enslaved for good.
A country mouse visits his friend's rich town house, is chased from every meal, and goes back to his safe plain fare.
A lamb fleeing a wolf into a temple says being sacrificed there is better than being eaten by him.
You envy a colleague's gift or standing so much that you are tempted to copy them, or ask for what they have.
standing risk relationships.admired -relationships.boss - standing -prudence +prudence + relationships.admired +money - wit +An ass envies the grasshoppers' song, tries to live on dew as they claim to, and starves.
A tortoise begs an eagle to teach her to fly, promising riches, and is dropped and dashed to pieces.
Moral: If men had all they wished, they would be often ruined.
A raven envies a swan's whiteness, moves to the lakes to wash, and starves without changing colour.
Moral: Change of habit cannot alter Nature.
An ass envious of the petted lapdog bursts into the house to fawn on his master and is beaten back to the stable.
A mother frog puffs herself up to match the ox that killed her son, and is told she would burst first.
An ass dances on the roof and is beaten, protesting that everyone laughed when the monkey did it.
A monkey copies the fishermen's netting, gets tangled and drowns.
A crow jealous of the raven's standing as an omen caws at travellers, who dismiss her cry.
Moral: Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.
Kites that could once sing try to neigh like horses and lose their song.
Moral: The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings.
A huge wolf nicknamed 'Lion' leaves the wolves to live among lions, and a fox mocks his conceit.
A peacock complains to Juno that he cannot sing, and she tells him each has his own gift.
A jackdaw envious of an eagle tries to carry off a ram, gets caught in the fleece, and is clipped and given to children.
A camel envious of the monkey's applauded dance tries to dance and is driven out.
Moral: It is absurd to ape our betters.
An honest woodman is given gold and silver axes, and a neighbour who lies to get the same loses his own axe.
An amaranth envies the rose, who replies that her beauty is brief while the amaranth never fades.
An ass envies the pampered warhorse until the horse is killed in battle.
A camel envying the bull's horns asks Jupiter for some and loses part of his ears.
You are passing for braver, grander or more skilled than you are, and the moment that would test it has come.
standing riskstanding - relationships.examiner +standing + relationships.companions +standing risk flags.liar setstanding -A wolf disguised in a sheep's skin is shut in the fold and killed by the shepherd who takes him for mutton.
Moral: Harm seek, harm find.
A returned traveller boasts of a great leap made abroad, and a bystander tells him to leap it here.
A jackdaw decks himself in others' fallen feathers to be chosen king, and the birds pluck them back.
A timid hunter asks a woodman for the lion's tracks and, offered the lion itself, says he only wanted the tracks.
Moral: The hero is brave in deeds as well as words.
Trained monkeys dance like courtiers until someone throws nuts and they brawl for them.
A bald knight's wig blows off during a hunt, and he joins the laughter with a joke.
An idle, overfed mule boasts he is a racer's son, and after a long hard journey decides his father was an ass.
A dolphin carrying a monkey from a wreck drowns him when he lies about his noble birth and 'knowing' the Piraeus.
A jackdaw painted white lives among doves until he chatters, and is then rejected by both doves and jackdaws.
A monkey claims a cemetery's monuments honour his ancestors, and a fox notes no ancestor can contradict him.
Moral: A false tale often betrays itself.
A failed cobbler poses as a doctor with a cure-all, and confesses when the governor tests him with 'poison'.
An ass in a lion's skin frightens the foolish beasts until a fox hears him bray.
A soldier who fled a robber returns boasting after his comrade has killed him, and is rebuked.
A cat turned into a woman for love leaps from the bridal couch after a mouse.
Moral: Nature exceeds nurture.
Things are going your way, and you are tempted to show it, crow about it, or take on someone bigger.
standing risk relationships.rival -standing risk flags.overreached setprudence + standing +relationships.mentor + prudence +A mountain groans as if in labour, crowds gather in dread, and out comes a mouse.
Moral: Don’t make much ado about nothing.
A biting dog made to wear a warning bell struts proudly with it until an old hound tells him it is a mark of disgrace.
Moral: Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.
A victorious cock crows on a wall and is carried off by an eagle, leaving the beaten cock to rule.
Moral: Pride goes before destruction.
Mice appoint generals who wear conspicuous plumes, and in the rout the generals cannot fit into their holes and are eaten.
Moral: The more honour the more danger.
An ass sees a lion flee at a cock's crow, chases the lion himself, and is torn apart.
Moral: False confidence often leads into danger.
An ass carrying a sacred image thinks the crowd bows to him and balks, until the driver's whip corrects him.
Moral: They are not wise who give to themselves the credit due to others.
Mercury in disguise asks a sculptor the price of his own statue, expecting it to be highest, and is offered it free.
A flaring lamp boasts it outshines the sun and is blown out by a gust.
A gnat stings a lion into tearing his own face, then is caught and eaten by a spider.
A wolf seeing his long evening shadow thinks he should be king, and a lion kills him.
A caged dove boasts of her many young, and a crow says that only means more of them in prison.
A gnat asks a bull if he should leave, and the bull says he never noticed him come.
Moral: Some men are of more consequence in their own eyes than in the eyes of their neighbors.
Robbers wound the proud mule carrying treasure and ignore the one carrying grain.
A showier or better-placed colleague sneers at your plainness or your load, and you must decide how to answer.
wit + standing + relationships.rival -prudence + relationships.rival -standing risk relationships.rival -relationships.boss +money - standing riskA swallow and a crow argue over plumage, and the crow says his feathers at least last through the winter.
Moral: Fair weather friends are not worth much.
A hare mocks a tortoise's pace, sleeps during their race, and loses to her steady plodding.
Moral: Slow but steady wins the race.
The beasts ask the lioness how many young she bears, and she says only one, but that one a lion.
Moral: The value is in the worth, not in the number.
A man points to a statue of a man strangling a lion, and the lion says a lion would have carved it the other way.
Moral: One story is good, till another is told.
A heifer mocks a working ox for his labour and is then led off to be sacrificed while the ox is freed.
A fir scorns a useless bramble, which reminds it of the axes waiting to fell the useful.
Moral: Better poverty without care, than riches with.
A leopard and a fox dispute their beauty, and the fox says his is in the mind.
A hound gives up chasing a hare and, mocked, says he ran for a dinner but the hare for his life.
A peacock mocks a plain crane's plumage, and the crane says he flies to the heavens while the peacock walks the dunghill.
Moral: Fine feathers don’t make fine birds.
A proud horse threatens a laden ass, then broken-winded is put to a dungcart and mocked by the ass.
A fly on the axle threatens to sting the mule, who says he heeds only the driver.
A flea asks why the ox slaves for men, and the ox says he is loved and patted, while a pat means the flea's death.
An evergreen olive mocks the fig for shedding leaves, and snow breaks the olive but passes through the fig.
Someone in trouble asks for help, or you need it yourself, and nobody can tell how the help will be repaid.
relationships.helped + money -relationships.asker - money +relationships.helped + standing riskrelationships.partner - money riskprudence + relationships.staff +A lion spares a mouse who begs for its life, and later the mouse gnaws through the hunters' ropes that bind the lion.
A starving grasshopper who sang all summer begs food of the ants, who mock him for not saving.
A farmer warms a frozen snake in his bosom, and it revives and bites him fatally.
Moral: The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful.
A mule refuses to take a little of the struggling ass's load, the ass dies, and the mule must carry all of it and the ass's hide.
A dove saves a drowning ant with a leaf, and the ant later stings a birdcatcher to save the dove.
A peasant frees an eagle, which later snatches his bundle to lure him from under a wall that then falls.
A countryman frees an eagle from a serpent, and the eagle later knocks away the drink the serpent poisoned.
A hart hidden under a vine eats its leaves once the hunters pass, and is spotted and shot.
A drowning boy asks a traveller who scolds him to help first and scold afterwards.
Moral: Counsel without help is useless.
Wasps and partridges promise a farmer service for water, and he says his oxen already do it without promises.
A bitch granted a place to whelp later uses her grown pups to bar the shepherd from it.
A slipping fox grabs a bramble for help, is torn by it, and is told he should have known its nature.
A viper asks a file for a meal, and the file says he takes from everyone and gives nothing.
Moral: The covetous are poor givers.
A shepherd pulls a thorn from a lion's paw, and the lion later spares him in the arena.
You already have something good, and a chance to grab more, squeeze more or stay longer is tempting you.
money + prudence +money riskmoney risk flags.killed_the_goose setprudence + money -money + standing riskA dog carrying meat snaps at his reflection's larger piece and loses his own.
Flies gorge on spilt honey, stick fast in it and die lamenting their greed.
Moral: Pleasure bought with pains, hurts.
A boy grasps so many filberts that he cannot pull his hand out of the pitcher, and is told to take half.
Moral: Do not attempt too much at once.
A huntsman and a fisherman swap their catches daily until a neighbour warns that habit will spoil the pleasure.
Moral: Abstain and enjoy.
A milkmaid counts the future profits of her milk, tosses her head at imagined suitors, and spills the pail.
A fisherman refuses to release a small fish that promises to be worth more when grown.
A fox gorges on food left in a hollow tree and is too swollen to get out.
A seagull bursts its gullet on too large a fish, and a kite says a bird of the air should not feed from the sea.
Moral: Every man should be content to mind his own business.
A lion leaves a sleeping hare to chase a hart, loses the hart, and returns to find the hare gone.
A couple kill their hen that lays golden eggs to get the gold inside and find nothing.
A woman doubles her hen's feed to get two eggs a day, and it grows fat and stops laying.
A hawk refuses a nightingale's plea to let him go for larger birds not yet in sight.
A thrush lingers on a myrtle for its berries and is caught by a fowler.
You and a rival, or the people on your own side, are quarrelling, and someone else stands to profit from it.
relationships.rival +relationships.team + standing +relationships.rival - money -relationships.team - money -wit + relationships.team - flags.turncoat setA father shows his quarrelling sons that a bundle of sticks cannot be broken though each stick alone snaps easily.
A bramble tells a pomegranate and an apple tree to stop disputing which is more beautiful in its presence.
A father who maimed the snake that killed his son offers it peace, and the snake says neither can ever forget.
Moral: No one truly forgets injuries in the presence of him who caused the injury.
The limbs rebel against the idle-seeming belly and stop feeding it, and the whole body weakens.
A sprat offers to reconcile warring dolphins and whales, who say they would rather be destroyed than accept him.
A lion and a boar fighting over a well see vultures waiting and make peace.
A traveller and the ass's owner fight over who hired the ass's shadow, and the ass runs off.
Moral: In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance.
A lion and a bear fight over a kid until both are exhausted, and a fox runs off with it.
Moral: It sometimes happens that one man has all the toil, and another all the profit.
An oak split by wedges cut from its own branches grieves more at them than at the axe.
Moral: Misfortunes springing from ourselves are the hardest to bear.
A snake tormented by a wasp puts its head under a wagon wheel so they die together.
The trees give a man a young ash for his axe handle, and he fells the great trees with it.
A cat tells an eagle and a sow each that the other plans to kill her young, and both starve in fear while the cat feeds.
A lion afraid of three bulls together separates them with sly talk and eats them one by one.
Moral: Union is strength.
Two enemies on a sinking ship sit at opposite ends, and one is content if his enemy's end sinks first.
A bat fights for whichever side, birds or beasts, is winning, and after peace both condemn him.
You are joined, or about to be joined, to a partner or ally, and you cannot be sure they will stand by you.
prudence + relationships.partner -prudence + relationships.partner -relationships.partner - flags.deserted setrelationships.partner + standing riskwit + relationships.partner -A charcoal-burner invites a fuller to share his house to save costs, and the fuller refuses because he would blacken all his work.
Moral: Like will draw like.
A fox betrays his partner the ass to a lion in return for his own safety, and the lion takes them both.
One traveller climbs a tree and leaves his friend to face a bear, and the friend later says the bear warned him against such companions.
Moral: Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.
A goatherd feeds stray wild goats better than his own to win them, and they leave, reasoning he would do the same to them.
Moral: Old friends cannot with impunity be sacrificed for new ones.
A sick stag's many visitors each eat some of his food, so he dies of want rather than illness.
Moral: Evil companions bring more hurt than profit.
An earthen pot floating downstream begs a brass pot to keep away, since any touch would break her.
Moral: Equals make the best friends.
A frog ties a mouse's foot to his own and drowns him, and a hawk carries off both.
Moral: Harm hatch, harm catch.
A lion allies with a dolphin, and when the dolphin cannot come ashore to help him fight, calls him a traitor.
A traveller says 'I' found the axe but 'we' are undone when the owner comes, and his companion holds him to 'I'.
Moral: He who shares the danger ought to share the prize.
A woodcutter hides a fox but points to it while denying it, and the fox leaves without thanks.
A hound alternately bites and fawns on a hare, who asks him to show his true colours.
Moral: No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust or distrust him.
Hares at war with eagles ask the foxes for help, who decline knowing both sides.
Moral: Count the cost before you commit yourselves.
A stag asks a sheep for a loan with the wolf as surety, and the sheep declines, doubting she could ever collect.
Moral: Two blacks do not make one white.
A buyer returns an ass on trial because it at once joined the laziest ass in the yard.
Moral: A man is known by the company he keeps.
A satyr breaks his friendship with a man who blows on his hands to warm them and on his food to cool it.
An eagle proposes an alliance, and the lion asks for a surety since the eagle could fly off whenever he likes.
Moral: Try before you trust.
A horse refuses the ass a little feed now but promises a sackful later, and the ass does not believe it.
A kite boasts he can catch ostriches to win an eagle's hand, and brings her a stale mouse.
Something you want is right in front of you, or you are intent on a target, and you have not looked at the danger.
money risk standing riskprudence +money + standing riskprudence + money -A boy catching locusts reaches for a scorpion, which warns him he would have lost everything had he touched it.
A herdsman vows an offering to find his calf's thief, then finds a lion eating it and vows more to escape.
A thirsty pigeon flies at a painted goblet on a signboard and breaks her wings.
Moral: Zeal should not outrun discretion.
An astronomer gazing at the stars falls into a well, and a neighbour asks why he cannot see what is on earth.
A hunted stag hides in an ox-stall, escapes the servants' notice, and is found by the sharp-eyed master.
A one-eyed doe watches the land and is shot from the sea she thought safe.
Two frogs seeking a new home find a deep well, and one asks how they would get out if it dried up.
Moral: Do nothing without a regard to the consequences.
Fortune wakes a traveller asleep on a well's brink, lest she be blamed for his fall.
Moral: Everyone is more or less master of his own fate.
Cranes fly off at a birdcatcher's approach, while the heavier geese are caught.
A fowler staring up at a thrush treads on a viper and is fatally stung.
A spendthrift sells his last cloak on seeing an early swallow, and the frost returns.
A dog used to eggs swallows an oyster whole and suffers for thinking everything round is an egg.
Moral: They who act without sufficient thought, will often fall into unsuspected danger.
A hungry crow seizes a sleeping serpent as a windfall and is bitten to death.
Faults are being pointed out, by you or at you, and the one pointing shares the fault or gains by the blame.
wit + relationships.critic -wit + relationships.critic - standing +wit + relationships.adviser -standing - relationships.colleagues -prudence + relationships.colleagues +A traveller scolds his dog for dawdling, and the dog replies that he is ready and waiting on his master.
Moral: The loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend.
A bear boasts he loves men so much he never touches their dead, and a fox wishes he spared the living instead.
A fox who lost his tail urges all the other foxes to cut theirs off, and one sees through him.
A crab tells her son to walk straight, and he asks her to show him how.
Moral: Example is more powerful than precept.
The rivers complain the sea makes them salty, and the sea tells them to stop flowing into it.
A besieged city asks how to defend itself, and the bricklayer, carpenter and currier each propose their own trade.
Moral: Every man for himself.
A wolf sees shepherds eating mutton and remarks on the outcry there would be if he did the same.
A philosopher decrying Providence for drowning the innocent with the guilty tramples an anthill for one sting.
A lioness mourns her cub killed by a bull, and a hunter reminds her how many she has made mourn.
A fortune-teller runs home on hearing his house is being robbed, and a neighbour asks why he did not foresee it.
A frog proclaims himself a physician, and a fox asks why he cannot cure his own gait and skin.
Momus, made judge of the gods' works, envies and faults all three, and is expelled.
Every man carries a bag of his neighbours' faults in front and a bigger bag of his own behind.
Moral: Hence it is that men are quick to see the faults of others, and yet are often blind to their own failings.
A shipwrecked man blames the sea, who says the winds are to blame for her fury.
Someone powerful is down, caged or out of reach, or someone small is needling you, and a blow could be struck.
standing + relationships.powerful -relationships.powerful - flags.revenge set standing riskrelationships.powerful + money -relationships.powerful - standing -prudence +A lion woken by a mouse searches his den in fury, and tells a mocking fox it is the mouse's cheek, not the mouse, he resents.
Moral: Little liberties are great offenses.
A kid on a rooftop taunts a passing wolf, who says it is the roof that mocks him.
Moral: Time and place often give the advantage to the weak over the strong.
A vine cropped by a goat says she will provide the wine poured over him at his sacrifice.
A dying old lion is struck by the boar and the bull, and then kicked by the ass.
A mouse bites a bull, hides in its hole, and bites him again while he sleeps.
A bull hiding from a lion in a cave is butted by a goat, and says he will answer once the lion is gone.
Moral: It shows an evil disposition to take advantage of a friend in distress.
Men first flee the huge camel, then, finding it meek, bridle it and let a child drive it.
Moral: Use serves to overcome dread.
A fox terrified at first sight of a lion grows bolder each meeting until he chats with him.
Moral: Acquaintance softens prejudices.
Dogs tear at a lion's skin, and a fox says they would learn a lion's claws if it were alive.
Moral: It is easy to kick a man that is down.
A fox reviles a caged lion, who says it is his mischance, not the fox, that insults him.
A sparrow mocks a hare seized by an eagle and is himself taken by a hawk.
A crow rides a sheep's back and says she bullies the weak and flatters the strong.
A panther in a pit, stoned by some shepherds and fed by others, escapes and takes revenge only on his attackers.
A beetle whose young an eagle ate pursues her eggs even into Jupiter's lap until they are broken.
Moral: The weak often revenge themselves on those who use them ill, even though they be more powerful.
A bald man slaps his own head at a fly, and says he forgives himself but would kill the fly at any cost.
You are stuck, worn down or beaten, and it is tempting to despair, complain, or wait for someone to rescue you.
prudence + money +wit + money +standing +relationships.patron riskstanding - flags.gave_up setA carter whose wagon is stuck calls on Hercules, who tells him to put his shoulder to the wheel first.
Moral: Self-help is the best help.
A boy stung after touching a nettle gently is told by his mother to grasp it boldly next time.
Moral: Whatever you do, do with all your might.
An old warhorse sent to work a mill laments his former glory, and the miller tells him fortune rises and falls.
A weary old woodcutter calls for Death, and when Death comes asks only for help lifting his load.
Despairing hares rush to drown themselves, see frogs flee from them, and take heart.
A poor carpenter smashes the idol that never helped him, and gold pours out of its head.
An ass who falls in a pond groans, and the frogs ask what he would do if he lived there always.
Moral: Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes.
A thirsty crow raises the water in a pitcher by dropping in stones one by one.
Moral: Necessity is the mother of invention.
A fox that cannot reach the grapes walks away saying they are sour.
Fishermen rejoice at heavy nets that turn out full of stones, and an old man says sorrow is twin to joy.
A hungry jackdaw waits on a fig tree for out-of-season figs to ripen.
A wrestler bitten by a flea calls on Hercules, and wonders what help to expect against greater foes if none comes for a flea.
A lion ashamed of fearing a cock finds an elephant terrified of a gnat, and is consoled.
A prince confined because of his father's dream of a lion strikes at a painted lion, is pricked by a thorn and dies.
Moral: We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.
You carry the load for the one you serve, and they take you for granted, work you into the ground or skim what you need.
relationships.boss + standing -relationships.boss risk standing +relationships.boss riskprudence + money - relationships.boss -money - relationships.boss -Oxen hauling a wagon rebuke the creaking axles for complaining when it is the oxen doing the work.
Moral: Those who suffer most cry out the least.
A pig squeals when the shepherd seizes him, and tells the complaining sheep and goat that they are handled for wool and milk but he for his life.
A groom curries his horse all day but sells its oats, and the horse asks to be groomed less and fed more.
A soldier pampers his horse in war, drudges it in peace, and finds it cannot carry him when war returns.
A hound complains that the housedog feasts on his catch, and the housedog tells him to blame the master who taught him so.
Moral: Children are not to be blamed for the faults of their parents.
A storm-bound man kills his sheep, goats and then his oxen, and his dogs flee reasoning they are next.
Moral: He is not to be trusted as a friend who mistreats his own family.
An old hound loses his grip on a boar and, abused by his master, asks to be praised for what he was.
A camel-driver asks his camel whether it would rather go uphill or down, and the camel asks whether the level road is closed.
The oaks complain they are always felled, and Jupiter says it is because they are so useful.
A roadside walnut tree is beaten with sticks by passers-by who want its nuts.
A shepherd shakes down acorns onto his cloak, and the sheep eating them tear it.
Travellers resting in a plane tree's shade call it useless, and the tree rebukes them.
Moral: Some men underrate their best blessings.
A brazier scolds his dog for sleeping while he works and waking only to beg at dinner.
Someone with a predator's instincts is about to be let inside, or trained, or left in charge, and you know what they are.
relationships.boss risk standing +relationships.newcomer + money riskmoney - prudence +money + relationships.newcomer riskA shepherd raises a wolf cub to steal lambs from neighbours, and it warns him to watch his own flock.
A farmer shuts a lion in his farmyard, loses his flocks, and has to let it go.
A shepherd is about to shut a wolf in the fold, and his dog asks how the sheep can then be safe.
A wolf follows a flock harmlessly for so long that the shepherd leaves him in charge, and he kills the flock.
A blind man feeling a wolf cub cannot say if it is fox or wolf, but knows it must not go in the sheepfold.
Moral: Evil tendencies are shown in early life.
A hen hatches viper eggs, and a swallow warns they will harm everyone, starting with her.
You did the work alongside someone far stronger, and now the proceeds are being divided on their terms.
relationships.partner - standing riskmoney - relationships.partner +money risk relationships.partner -relationships.partner - standing riskA crane pulls a bone from a wolf's throat and, asking for her fee, is told that keeping her head is payment enough.
Moral: In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.
A lion and a wild ass hunt together, and the lion takes all three shares by rank, partnership and threat.
Moral: Might makes right.
A lion takes a stolen lamb from a wolf, who protests the injustice, and the lion jeers at his claim.
A lion eats the ass who divided their spoil equally, and the fox, having learned, leaves himself a morsel.
Moral: Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others.
A fox who finds prey for a lion grows jealous of the lion's share, hunts alone, and is caught.
A horseman takes a hunter's hare under pretence of buying it and gallops off, and the hunter calls it a gift.
You need people to believe you or help you now, and your record gives them every reason not to.
standing -relationships.patron -relationships.neighbour riskrelationships.allies +A shepherd boy raises false alarms of a wolf for fun, and when the wolf truly comes nobody answers his cry.
Moral: There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.
A dying kite asks his mother to pray for him, and she asks which god he has not robbed.
Moral: We must make friends in prosperity if we would have their help in adversity.
An ape judging a wolf's theft charge against a fox rules that the wolf lost nothing and the fox stole anyway.
Moral: The dishonest, if they act honestly, get no credit.
A wolf says he left a field of oats untouched for the horse, who says he would not if wolves ate oats.
Moral: Men of evil reputation, when they perform a good deed, fail to get credit for it.
A crow breaks his vow to Apollo after being freed, and when caught again Mercury will not believe his new vow.
Trouble is coming but not yet here, and you must decide whether to prepare, warn others, or take the threat seriously.
prudence + money -standing - relationships.team -prudence +money + prudence -Cranes learn a farmer's sling is only for show and ignore it, until he loads it with stones and kills many.
Moral: If words suffice not, blows must follow.
A boar whets his tusks with no enemy in sight, saying there is no time to sharpen them once attacked.
Moral: To be well prepared for war is the best guarantee of peace.
A lion wounded by a bowman's arrow flees, saying he dare not face the man if that is his messenger.
Moral: Be on guard against men who can strike from a distance.
A lark stays put while the farmer relies on friends to reap, and moves when he says he will reap himself.
Moral: Self-help is the best help.
A dog curled against winter cold plans a house, but stretched out in summer thinks one too big a job.
The birds scorn the owl's warnings about acorns, flax and archers until they come true.
A cock scratching for food finds a jewel and says one grain of barley would be worth more to him.
A just lion king proclaims peace between strong and weak beasts, and the hare, praising it, runs for his life.
A fisherman pipes to the fish in vain, then casts his net and scolds them for dancing only now.
A blind young mole insists he can see, and his mother's test shows he cannot even smell.
A fawn asks why his mother, bigger and armed, flees from hounds, and she admits she simply cannot help it.
Moral: No arguments will give courage to the coward.
A dog lying in a manger snaps at the oxen to stop them eating hay he cannot eat himself.
A goatherd breaks a stray goat's horn with a stone and begs it not to tell his master, and the goat says the horn will speak.
Moral: Do not attempt to hide things which cannot be hid.
A miser's buried gold is stolen, and a neighbour tells him a stone in the hole would serve him just as well.
An ass who lightened his salt load by falling in a stream tries the trick with sponges and doubles his burden.
A greying man courts a young and an old woman, who between them pluck out all his hair.
Moral: Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.
A doctor robs a blind old woman while treating her, and when he sues for his fee she says she still cannot see her goods.
A dying farmer tells his sons treasure lies in the vineyard, and their digging brings a great harvest.
A monkey presents her ugly baby for the beauty prize and, laughed at, says he is the most beautiful to her.
A swallow nests in the wall of a court of justice, and her young are eaten by a serpent there.
A father's two daughters, married to a gardener and a tile-maker, wish for rain and for sun, and he cannot back both.
A mother praises her son's first small thefts, and on his way to execution he bites her ear for not stopping him.
A buyer of a black servant, thinking his colour is dirt, scrubs him incessantly and only gives him a cold.
Moral: What’s bred in the bone will stick to the flesh.
A fisherman's net holds the large fish, but the small ones slip back through the meshes.
An old woman sniffs an empty wine jar and praises how fine the wine must have been.
Moral: The memory of a good deed lives.
A man bitten by a dog is advised to feed the dog bread dipped in his blood, and says that would invite every dog to bite him.
Moral: Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed increase their means of injuring you.
A poor widow shears her sheep herself to save the fee and cuts his flesh with the wool.
Moral: The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.
An eagle is mortally shot with an arrow fledged with his own feathers.
The mice agree to bell the cat, but none will volunteer to do it.
A bee asks Jupiter for a deadly sting, and gets one that kills her if she uses it.
Moral: Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost.
Travellers wait for what they think is a ship, and it turns out to be a bundle of sticks.
Moral: Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities.
An uprooted oak asks the reeds how they survive the wind, and they say they bend rather than fight.
Moral: Stoop to conquer.
A miller and his son change how they travel with their ass at every passer-by's criticism until they lose the ass in the river.
A dog invited by a friend to his master's feast is thrown out by the cook and pretends he was too drunk to remember.
A farmer takes revenge on a fox by setting its tail alight, and it runs through his own wheat.
A monkey mother smothers her favourite twin with love while the neglected one thrives.
Moral: The best intentions will not always ensure success.
A crab that moved inland to feed is eaten by a fox and blames himself for leaving the sea.
Moral: Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
A calf offers to show a bull the way through a narrow passage, and the bull says he knew it before the calf was born.
A man sends his disliked wife to her father's house, and her report of the herdsmen's looks confirms her effect on everyone.
Moral: Straws show how the wind blows.
A horse, ox and dog repay a man's shelter by giving the stages of his life their own tempers.
An ape king rewards a liar's flattery and has his court maul a truthful traveller.
A man selling an image of Mercury claims it brings wealth, and says he sells because its gifts come too slowly.
A goat envious of the ass advises him to feign illness, and the goat's lungs are then prescribed to heal him.
A fox finds a lifelike mask in an actor's house and says it is beautiful but has no brains.
A father tells his vain son and plain, spiteful daughter both to look in the mirror daily, to mind their conduct.
A partridge pecked by gamecocks thinks it is because he is a stranger, until he sees them fight each other.
A wolf accuses the absent fox to the sick lion, and the fox prescribes the wolf's warm skin as the cure.
The north wind blows in vain to strip a traveller's cloak, and the sun's warmth makes him take it off.
Moral: Persuasion is better than Force.
A fox serves a crane soup in a flat dish, and the crane repays him with a narrow-necked jar.
Driven out by the ills, the goods ask Jupiter for protection, and he sends them to men one at a time.
An eagle steals her neighbour fox's cub, and later her own young burn in a nest fired by a stolen cinder.
A stag admires his antlers and despises his thin legs, which save him until the antlers catch in a thicket.
Moral: What is most truly valuable is often underrated.
A lark born before the earth, with nowhere to bury her father, buries him in her own head.
Moral: Youth’s first duty is reverence to parents.
Hungry dogs try to drink a river dry to reach hides in it and burst.
Moral: Attempt not impossibilities.
A peasant ignores the pleas of birds to spare his barren tree, but spares it on finding honey inside.
Moral: Self-interest alone moves some men.
The gods choose fruitless trees so as not to seem covetous, and Minerva prefers the olive for its fruit.
A traveller meets Truth alone in the desert, who says she left the city because falsehood is now with everyone.
A murderer fleeing his victim's kin climbs from a lion into a serpent's tree and jumps into a crocodile's river.
An ass bolts for a precipice, and his owner, unable to hold him by the tail, lets go.
A wolf waits all day at a cottage door after hearing a mother threaten to throw her child out to him.
A man catches a flea who pleads it does little harm, and kills it because no evil should be tolerated.
A rich man presses his tanner neighbour to move, the tanner stalls, and the rich man grows used to the smell.
An eagle freed by a new owner brings him a hare, and a fox advises courting the old owner who clipped him.
The he-goats complain the she-goats got beards, and Jupiter says an empty badge makes them no equals.
Moral: It matters little if those who are inferior to us in merit should be like us in outside appearances.
A crowd prefers a buffoon's fake pig squeal to a countryman's real pig, until he shows it.
The frogs protest the sun's marriage, fearing that more suns would parch them worse.
money - fable 60 · statedstanding - fable 1 · statedstanding + fable 5 · statedstanding - fable 26 · statedstanding - fable 39 · statedrelationships.powerful + fable 55 · inferredstanding risk fable 131 · statedstanding + fable 135 · statedstanding - fable 147 · statedstanding + fable 197 · statedstanding - fable 211 · inferredstanding + relationships.captor - fable 217 · statedstanding - fable 248 · statedstanding - fable 292 · statedstanding - fable 293 · statedstanding + relationships.accuser - fable 240 · statedstanding - fable 99 · statedrelationships.companions + fable 160 · inferredstanding - fable 172 · statedmoney + fable 268 · statedmoney - fable 268 · statedstanding - fable 138 · inferredrelationships.partner - fable 270 · statedrelationships.boss - fable 41 · inferredrelationships.powerful + fable 0 · statedstanding - fable 106 · inferredstanding - fable 148 · statedstanding - fable 302 · statedrelationships.stranger - fable 204 · inferredrelationships.charge - fable 86 · statedmoney - fable 44 · statedstanding - fable 262 · statedstanding - fable 254 · statedrelationships.companion - fable 120 · inferredmoney - fable 67 · inferredrelationships.wronged - fable 48 · statedrelationships.spared + fable 0 · statedrelationships.asker - fable 10 · inferredstanding - fable 10 · statedrelationships.helped - standing - fable 23 · statedrelationships.partner - money - fable 51 · statedrelationships.helped + fable 132 · statedrelationships.freed + fable 154 · statedrelationships.rescued + relationships.enemy - fable 190 · statedrelationships.staff + fable 230 · inferredstanding - fable 286 · statedrelationships.helped + standing + fable 296 · statedstanding - fable 205 · statedmoney + fable 205 · statedstanding - relationships.partner - fable 20 · statedstanding - fable 40 · statedstanding - fable 42 · inferredstanding - relationships.colleagues - fable 65 · statedstanding - fable 198 · statedstanding - relationships.own_kind - fable 200 · statedstanding - fable 201 · inferredstanding - fable 234 · statedstanding - fable 251 · statedrelationships.hunted - fable 127 · statedstanding - fable 193 · statedmoney - fable 149 · statedstanding - fable 166 · statedrelationships.guest - fable 244 · statedrelationships.powerful - fable 303 · inferredmoney - fable 247 · statedrelationships.powerful - fable 43 · statedstanding - fable 199 · statedmoney - fable 115 · inferredstanding - fable 73 · statedmoney - fable 261 · statedrelationships.neighbour + fable 294 · inferredrelationships.partner - standing - fable 30 · statedmoney - fable 309 · statedmoney - fable 267 · inferredmoney - fable 280 · inferredstanding - fable 35 · statedmoney - fable 112 · inferredstanding + fable 214 · inferredmoney + fable 241 · inferredstanding + fable 249 · statedrelationships.boss - fable 9 · inferredmoney + fable 185 · statedmoney - fable 56 · statedstanding - fable 218 · statedstanding - fable 2 · statedstanding - fable 29 · statedmoney - fable 31 · statedstanding - fable 52 · statedstanding - fable 68 · inferredstanding - fable 98 · statedstanding - fable 134 · statedstanding - fable 170 · statedstanding - fable 180 · inferredstanding - fable 186 · inferredstanding - fable 258 · statedstanding - fable 265 · statedrelationships.patron - fable 16 · statedstanding risk fable 114 · inferredmoney + fable 157 · statedstanding - fable 297 · statedmoney - fable 54 · statedrelationships.allies - fable 104 · statedrelationships.neighbour - fable 235 · inferredrelationships.patron - fable 243 · statedstanding - fable 47 · statedstanding + fable 53 · inferredmoney - fable 76 · statedstanding - fable 79 · statedmoney - fable 109 · statedmoney - fable 125 · statedstanding - fable 136 · statedstanding - fable 176 · statedrelationships.boss - fable 177 · inferredmoney + fable 178 · inferredstanding - fable 189 · statedmoney - fable 228 · statedstanding + fable 291 · inferredrelationships.team + fable 4 · inferredstanding - fable 75 · statedrelationships.factions - fable 80 · statedrelationships.rival + fable 105 · statedmoney - fable 124 · statedmoney - fable 152 · statedstanding - fable 171 · statedrelationships.neighbour - standing - fable 185 · statedstanding - fable 224 · statedrelationships.both_sides - standing - fable 246 · statedmoney - fable 12 · inferredrelationships.companion - fable 37 · statedrelationships.new_allies - fable 58 · statedstanding - fable 90 · statedrelationships.ally - fable 102 · statedrelationships.weak_side - fable 182 · inferredrelationships.borrower - fable 184 · inferredrelationships.ally - fable 256 · statedstanding - fable 259 · inferredrelationships.ally - fable 277 · inferredrelationships.partner - fable 284 · inferredrelationships.partner - fable 299 · statedrelationships.predator - fable 36 · inferredstanding - fable 36 · statedstanding - fable 63 · statedrelationships.predator - fable 64 · inferredrelationships.predator - fable 92 · inferredmoney - standing - fable 96 · statedrelationships.predator - fable 144 · inferredmoney - fable 192 · statedstanding - fable 207 · statedrelationships.predator - fable 215 · statedrelationships.host - fable 219 · statedstanding - fable 221 · statedrelationships.predator - fable 225 · inferredmoney - fable 15 · statedstanding - fable 21 · statedmoney - fable 46 · inferredrelationships.partner - fable 95 · inferredmoney - fable 113 · statedmoney + fable 137 · statedstanding - fable 139 · inferredstanding - fable 151 · statedmoney - fable 156 · statedmoney - fable 168 · statedmoney - fable 179 · statedmoney + fable 213 · statedstanding - fable 266 · statedstanding - fable 279 · statedstanding + fable 61 · inferredstanding - fable 72 · inferredmoney + fable 191 · statedstanding + fable 195 · inferredstanding - fable 301 · statedmoney - fable 13 · inferredstanding - fable 30 · statedstanding - fable 32 · statedstanding - fable 62 · statedstanding - fable 107 · statedstanding + fable 140 · inferredstanding - fable 150 · inferredstanding - fable 216 · statedstanding - fable 222 · statedstanding - fable 289 · statedstanding - fable 308 · statedmoney - fable 3 · statedmoney - fable 101 · statedstanding - fable 158 · statedmoney - standing + fable 158 · statedstanding - fable 274 · statedmoney + fable 14 · statedmoney + fable 69 · statedstanding + fable 242 · statedstanding - fable 242 · statedstanding - fable 49 · inferredstanding + fable 66 · inferredstanding + fable 145 · statedrelationships.bigger - fable 159 · inferredstanding - fable 252 · inferredstanding + fable 285 · inferredstanding - fable 298 · statedrelationships.powerful + fable 298 · statedstanding - fable 305 · statedrelationships.parties - fable 59 · statedmoney - standing - fable 143 · statedstanding - fable 38 · statedstanding - fable 84 · statedrelationships.critics - fable 111 · inferredstanding - fable 116 · inferredstanding - fable 153 · statedstanding - fable 257 · statedrelationships.pupil - fable 83 · inferredmoney - fable 129 · statedrelationships.boss + fable 164 · inferredmoney - fable 210 · statedrelationships.newcomer - fable 233 · inferredrelationships.newcomers - fable 281 · inferredstanding - fable 27 · inferredstanding - fable 57 · statedstanding - fable 71 · statedstanding - fable 108 · statedstanding - fable 110 · statedstanding - fable 117 · statedstanding - fable 126 · statedstanding - fable 141 · statedstanding - fable 194 · inferredstanding - fable 245 · statedstanding - fable 264 · statedmoney - standing - fable 290 · inferredstanding + fable 7 · statedstanding + fable 11 · statedstanding - fable 11 · statedstanding + fable 22 · inferredstanding - fable 70 · inferredstanding + fable 155 · inferredstanding + fable 167 · inferredrelationships.rival - fable 223 · inferredstanding - fable 223 · inferredrelationships.boss + fable 226 · inferredstanding - fable 310 · statedstanding + fable 310 · inferredrelationships.helper - fable 74 · statedrelationships.boss - fable 118 · inferredrelationships.boss + fable 119 · inferredrelationships.boss - fable 161 · inferred