Fables That Fix Lives: Ancient Code for Modern Problems

Once a Fox saw a stage and exclaimed, "What rich meat there is in him!" A lion, that got nothing to eat for some time, was prowling at a distance. The fox said to himself, "If I should point out the stag to the lion, he will make his breakfast off him, and leave me the remainder," So he went up to the lion and, bowing respectfully, said, "If your majesty will step in that way, your majesty's humble servant will be able to point out something highly desirable." "Very good!" said the lion, and followed the fox. But the stag, who had got a hint of the conspiracy, ran up to a place of safety, and was watching their movement unseen. The lion, not finding the stag, said to the fox, "Knave, you have deceived me! I am frantically hungry: you are as good a morsel as the stag, though a trifle less in size, "and, springing on him, ate him up in no time.

Once, a Stork was in the presence of a Swan who was singing at the brink of death. The Stork expressed her surprise, stating that it was against nature to sing so fervently when out of season. She asked the Swan for the reason behind her song. “Why,” replied the Swan, “I am transitioning into a state where I will no longer face the threats of traps, guns, or starvation. Who wouldn’t rejoice at such a liberation?”

Once a Spider observed a Swallow catching flies, fell immediately to work upon a net to catch swallows, for she looked upon it as an encroachment upon her right; but the birds, without any difficulty, brake through the work, and flew away with the very net itself. "Well," says the Spider, "bird-catching is none of my talent, I perceive." Therefore she returned to her old trade of catching flies again.