one of the inhabitants of the pool: “As it is, by himself he parches up all the standing waters, and compels us unfortunates to languish and die in
our
scorched abode. What is to become of us, if he beget children?”
A Fox, by chance, casting his eyes on a Tragic Mask: “Ah,” said she, “great as is its beauty, still it has no brains.”
I.9
This is meant for those to whom fortune has granted honor and renown, leaving them void of common sense.
He who expects a recompense for his services from the dishonest commits a twofold mistake; first, because he assists the undeserving, and in the next place, because he cannot be gone while he is yet safe.
A bone that he had swallowed stuck in the jaws of a Wolf. Thereupon, overcome by extreme pain, he began to tempt all and sundry by great rewards to extract the cause of misery. At length, on his taking an oath, a Crane was prevailed on, and, trusting the length of her neck to his throat, she wrought, with danger to herself, a cure for the Wolf. When she demanded the promised reward for this
service
, “You are an ungrateful one,” replied
the Wolf
, “to have taken your head in safety out of my mouth, and
then
to ask for a reward.”
Let us show, in a few lines, that it is unwise to be heedless
I.10
of ourselves, while we are giving advice to others.
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