The Fox said one day: “Let us go to the hill-top, and whoever reaches it first shall carry off the grain for his own.”
While they were mounting the steep the Crab said:
“Do me a favor; before you set off running, touch me with your tail, so that I shall know it and be able to follow you.”
The Crab opened his claws, and when the Fox touched him with his tail, he leaped forward and seized it, so that when the Fox reached the goal and turned round to see where the Crab was, the latter fell upon the heap of grain and said: “These three bushels and a half are all mine.” The Fox was thunderstruck and exclaimed:
“How did you get here, you rascal?”
This fable shows that deceitful men devise many methods and actions for getting things their own way, but that they are often defeated by the feeble.
The Goats and the Wolves
All the Goats gathered together and sent a message to the nation of the Wolves. “Wherefore,” said they, “do you make upon us this ceaseless war? We beseech you, make peace with us, as the kings of nations are wont to do.”
The Wolves assembled in great joy, and sent a long letter and many presents to the nation of the Goats. And they said to them:
“We have learned your excellent resolution and we have rendered thanks to God for it. The news of this peace will occasion great joy in the world. But we beg to inform your wisdom that the shepherd and his dog are the causes of all our differences and quarrels; if you make an end of them, tranquillity will soon return.”