[ Fable XXIV.]
THE SERPENT AND THE LIZARD.
When the Lion’s skin fails, the Fox’s must be employed; that is to say, when strength fails, we must employ craftiness.
A Serpent chanced to catch a Lizard by the tail; but when she tried to devour it with open throat, it snatched up a little twig that lay close at hand, and, holding it transversely with pertinacious bite, checked the greedy jaws, agape to devour it, by this cleverly contrived impediment. So the Serpent dropped the prey from her mouth unenjoyed.
[ Fable XXV.]
THE CROW AND THE SHEEP.
Many are in the habit of injuring the weak and cringing to the powerful.
An pestilent Crow had taken her seat upon a Sheep; which after carrying her a long time on her back and much against her inclination, remarked: “If you had done thus to a Dog with his sharp teeth, you would have suffered for it.” To this the rascally Crow replied: “I despise the defenceless, and I yield to the powerful; I know whom to vex, and whom to flatter craftily; by these means I put off my old age for years.”
[ Fable XXVI.]
THE SERVANT AND THE MASTER.
There is no curse more severe than a bad conscience.
A Servant having been guilty[NF.20] of a secret offence in debauching the wife of his master, on the latter coming to know of it, he said, in the presence of those standing by: “Are you quite pleased with yourself? For, when you ought not, you do please yourself; but not with impunity, for when you ought to be pleased, you cannot be.”