Collected Works Aesop: Aesop’s Fables (illus-Rackham). v1. 10 Oct 2019

Jupiter and the Two Bags

Jupiter, it is said, once gave to Man two bags—one for his neighbour’s faults, the other for his own. One was much smaller than the other, and both hung from a strap which was thrown over the shoulder so that one bag should hang in front, and one behind. The Man kept the large one in front for his Neighbours’ faults, and the small one behind for his own, so that, while the first was always under his nose, it took some trouble to see the latter.
This custom, which began thus early, is not quite unknown at the present day.


The Blacksmith And His Dog

There was a certain Blacksmith who had a little Dog. While he hammered away at his metal, the Dog slept; but whenever he sat down to his dinner, the Dog woke up, wagging his tail to be fed. “Sluggard cur!” said the Blacksmith, throwing him a bone; “you sleep through the noise of the anvil, but wake up at the first clatter of my teeth.”

The Lion and His Three Councillors

The Lion called the Sheep to ask her if his breath smelled: she said Aye; he bit off her head for a fool. He called the Wolf, and asked him; he said No; he tore him in pieces for a flatterer. At last he called the Fox, and asked him. He said, Truly he had got a cold, and could not smell.