The Dog and the Wolf
A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a Housedog who was passing by. “Ah, Cousin,” said the Dog. “I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?” “I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.” “I will easily arrange that for you,” said the Dog; “come with me to my master and you shall share my work.” So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there, the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about. “Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it.” “Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”
Moral, or lesson, of the story: Better to starve in freedom than to be a fat slave.
attributed to Aesop
Aesop may or may not have been an actual person. If real, he would have been born in about 620 B.C.E. He would have been a fabulist, or storyteller, and is credited with a number of works known collectively as “Aesop’s Fables.” In some of the stories, animals possess human characteristics, such as the ability to speak or hold paying jobs. Aesop would have passed on at about 56 years of age in about 564 B.C.E.
A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a Housedog who was passing by. “Ah, Cousin,” said the Dog. “I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?” “I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.” “I will easily arrange that for you,” said the Dog; “come with me to my master and you shall share my work.” So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there, the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about. “Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it.” “Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”
Moral, or lesson, of the story: Better to starve in freedom than to be a fat slave.
attributed to Aesop
Aesop may or may not have been an actual person. If real, he would have been born in about 620 B.C.E. He would have been a fabulist, or storyteller, and is credited with a number of works known collectively as “Aesop’s Fables.” In some of the stories, animals possess human characteristics, such as the ability to speak or hold paying jobs. Aesop would have passed on at about 56 years of age in about 564 B.C.E.