Three hundred Aesop’s fables: Translated by George Fyler TownsendAesop
General
Three hundred Aesop’s fables: Translated by George Fyler Townsend
Aesop
Aesop's fables -- Translations into English; Fables, Greek -- Translations into English
A SAILOR, bound on a long voyage, took with him a Monkey to amuse him
while on shipboard. As he sailed off the coast of Greece, a violent
tempest arose in which the ship was wrecked and he, his Monkey, and all
the crew were obliged to swim for their lives. A Dolphin saw the Monkey
contending with the waves, and supposing him to be a man (whom he is
always said to befriend), came and placed himself under him, to convey
him on his back in safety to the shore. When the Dolphin arrived with
his burden in sight of land not far from Athens, he asked the Monkey if
he were an Athenian. The latter replied that he was, and that he was
descended from one of the most noble families in that city. The Dolphin
then inquired if he knew the Piræus (the famous harbor of Athens).
Supposing that a man was meant, the Monkey answered that he knew him
very well and that he was an intimate friend. The Dolphin, indignant at
these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey under the water and drowned him.
The Horse and the Stag
AT ONE TIME the Horse had the plain entirely to himself. Then a Stag
intruded into his domain and shared his pasture. The Horse, desiring to
revenge himself on the stranger, asked a man if he were willing to help
him in punishing the Stag. The man replied that if the Horse would
receive a bit in his mouth and agree to carry him, he would contrive
effective weapons against the Stag. The Horse consented and allowed the
man to mount him. From that hour he found that instead of obtaining
revenge on the Stag, he had enslaved himself to the service of man.
The Jackdaw and the Doves
A JACKDAW, seeing some Doves in a cote abundantly provided with food,
painted himself white and joined them in order to share their plentiful
maintenance. The Doves, as long as he was silent, supposed him to be
one of themselves and admitted him to their cote. But when one day he
forgot himself and began to chatter, they discovered his true character
and drove him forth, pecking him with their beaks. Failing to obtain
food among the Doves, he returned to the Jackdaws. They too, not
recognizing him on account of his color, expelled him from living with
them. So desiring two ends, he obtained neither.
The Fox and the Monkey
A FOX and a Monkey were traveling together on the same road. As they
journeyed, they passed through a cemetery full of monuments. “All these
monuments which you see,” said the Monkey, “are erected in honour of my
ancestors, who were in their day freedmen and citizens of great
renown.” The Fox replied, “You have chosen a most appropriate subject
for your falsehoods, as I am sure none of your ancestors will be able
to contradict you.”
A false tale often betrays itself.
The Man and His Wife
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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