A man who kept cocks found a tame partridge for sale, bought her, and brought her home to feed with the cocks. But they pecked and chased her, and she was heavy-hearted, thinking they spurned her for being of foreign stock. A little later, though, she saw the cocks fighting one another, never parting until they had drawn blood, and she said to herself, "I will not complain any longer of being struck by these cocks; for I see they do not even spare their own."
Sensible people bear their neighbours' insults more easily once they see those neighbours spare not even their own kin.
Nº 5The Eagle, the Jackdaw and the ShepherdAn eagle swooped down from a high rock and carried off a lamb. A jackdaw, seized with envy, decided to do the same; it dived noisily at a ram, but…Read the fable →
Nº 8The Nightingale and the HawkA nightingale was singing high in an oak when a hungry hawk swooped and seized her. Facing death, she begged him to let her go, pleading that she was…Read the fable →
Nº 18The Ugly Slave and AphroditeAn ugly, ill-natured slave was loved by her master. With the money he gave her she decked herself in glittering finery and set herself up as a rival…Read the fable →