A GROOM used to spend all day, every day in currycombing and rubbing down his Horse, but at the same time stole the horse’s oats and sold them for his own profit.

“Think about it!” said the Horse, “if you really want me to be in good condition, you should groom me less, and feed me more.”

Moral: Spend your time on what will give you the results you want.

A MISER sold everything he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at every day.

photo credit: covilha

One of the miser’s workers observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided to keep an eye on the miser. The worker soon discovered the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it.

The next time the Miser visited his gold, he found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and sob loudly. A neighbor, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said,

“Pray do not grieve so… go and take a stone, place it in the hole, and pretend that the gold is still lying there. It will have the same effect; for when the gold was there, you didn’t really have it, as you did not make the slightest use of it.”

Moral: Use it or lose it

A Goatherd, driving his flock from their pasture at eventide, found some Wild Goats mingled among them, and shut them up in a cave together with his own for the night.

The next day it snowed very hard, so that the Goatherd could not take the herd to their usual feeding places, but was obliged to keep them inside the cave. He gave his own goats just enough food to keep them alive, but fed the wild goats more abundantly, hoping that by doing so, they would stay with him and join his herd.

When the snow thawed, the Goatherd led them all out to feed, and the Wild Goats scampered away as fast as they could to the mountains. The Goatherd scolded them for their ingratitude in leaving him, when during the storm he had taken more care of them than of his own herd.

One of the Wild Goats, turning about, said to him: “That is the very reason why we are so cautious; for if you yesterday treated us better than the Goats you have had so long, it is plain also that if others came after us, you would in the same manner prefer them to ourselves.”

Moral: Don’t sacrifice old friends for new ones.

The Oxen once sought to destroy the Butchers, who practiced a trade destructive to their race.

The Oxen assembled on a certain day to carry out their purpose, and sharpened their horns for the contest. But one of them who was exceedingly old (for many a field had he plowed) thus spoke:

“These Butchers, it is true, slaughter us, but they do so with skillful hands, and with no unnecessary pain. If we get rid of them, we shall fall into the hands of unskillful operators, and thus suffer a double death: for you may be assured, that though all the Butchers should perish, yet will people will always want beef.”

Moral: Do not be in a hurry to change one evil for another.

A Salt Merchant drove his Donkey to the seashore to buy salt. His road home lay across a stream into which his Donkey tripped and fell by accident. When the Donkey got out of the water, his load considerably lighter, as the water melted the salt in the sack.

The Merchant went back to the market by the seashore and refilled his bags with a larger quantity of salt than before. When he came again to the stream, the Donkey fell down on purpose in the same spot, and, regaining his feet with the weight of his load much diminished, brayed triumphantly as if he had obtained what he desired.

The Merchant saw through this trick and drove the Donkey for the third time to the coast, where he bought a cargo of sponges instead of salt.

The Donkey, again playing the fool, fell down on purpose when he reached the stream, but the sponges became swollen with water, greatly increasing his load. Thus his trick recoiled on him, for he now carried on his back a double burden.

Moral: Don’t try a trick too often or it will turn against you.