Topic: Æsop: Fables for the Internet

[Beleth]

These are the three fables by Æsop that I continually think of then I'm on the Internet, especially when I've got my moderator hat on here. I just thought I'd share them with you.

The North Wind and the Sun

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

    Kindness effects more than severity.

The Mischievous Dog

A Dog used to run up quietly to the heels of everyone he met, and to bite them without notice. His master suspended a bell about his neck so that the Dog might give notice of his presence wherever he went. Thinking it a mark of distinction, the Dog grew proud of his bell and went tinkling it all over the marketplace. One day an old hound said to him: Why do you make such an exhibition of yourself? That bell that you carry is not, believe me, any order of merit, but on the contrary a mark of disgrace, a public notice to all men to avoid you as an ill-mannered dog."

    Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

The Goatherd and the Wild Goats

A Goatherd, driving his flock from their pasture at eventide, found some Wild Goats mingled among them, and shut them up together with his own for the night. The next day it snowed very hard, so that he could not take the herd to their usual feeding places, but was obliged to keep them in the fold. He gave his own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive, but fed the strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing them to stay with him and of making them his own. When the thaw set in, he 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 them, 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."

    Old friends cannot with impunity be sacrificed for new ones.

[Nudibranch]

Excellent thread idea!

  The Boasting Traveler


  A MAN who had traveled in foreign lands boasted very much, on
returning to his own country, of the many wonderful and heroic
feats he had performed in the different places he had visited.
Among other things, he said that when he was at Rhodes he had
leaped to such a distance that no man of his day could leap
anywhere near him as to that, there were in Rhodes many persons
who saw him do it and whom he could call as witnesses.  One of
the bystanders interrupted him, saying:  "Now, my good man, if
this be all true there is no need of witnesses.  Suppose this
to be Rhodes, and leap for us."


   He who does a thing well does not need to boast

  The Man and the Lion


  A MAN and a Lion traveled together through the forest.  They soon
began to boast of their respective superiority to each other in
strength and prowess.  As they were disputing, they passed a
statue carved in stone, which represented "a Lion strangled by a
Man."  The traveler pointed to it and said:  "See there! How strong
we are, and how we prevail over even the king of beasts."  The
Lion replied:  "This statue was made by one of you men.  If we
Lions knew how to erect statues, you would see the Man placed
under the paw of the Lion." 


   One story is good, till another is told. 

The Mountains in Labour


  One day the Countrymen noticed that the Mountains were in
labour; smoke came out of their summits, the earth was quaking at
their feet, trees were crashing, and huge rocks were tumbling.
They felt sure that something horrible was going to happen.  They
all gathered together in one place to see what terrible thing this
could be.  They waited and they waited, but nothing came.  At last
there was a still more violent earthquake, and a huge gap appeared
in the side of the Mountains.  They all fell down upon their knees
and waited.  At last, and at last, a teeny, tiny mouse poked its
little head and bristles out of the gap and came running down
towards them, and ever after they used to say:


   "Much outcry, little outcome."