"Aesop - Fables" - читать интересную книгу автора (Aesop)

when he saw a Scorpion, and mistaking him for a locust, reached
out his hand to take him. The Scorpion, showing his sting, said:
If you had but touched me, my friend, you would have lost me, and
all your locusts too!"


The Cock and the Jewel

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. I would
rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world."


The Kingdom of the Lion

THE BEASTS of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He
was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle
as a king could be. 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. 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." And after the Hare said this, he ran for his
life.


The Wolf and the Crane

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.
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."

In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you
escape injury for your pains.


The Fisherman Piping

A FISHERMAN skilled in music took his flute and his nets to the
seashore. 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.