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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

17. THE WOLF, THE FOX AND THE AILING LION
Perry 258 (Chambry 205)

The lion had grown old and sick and was lying in his cave. All the animals, except for the fox, had come to visit their king. The wolf seized this opportunity to denounce the fox in front of the lion, complaining that the fox showed no respect for the lion, who was the common master of them all. Indeed, the fox had not even come to pay the ailing lion a visit! The fox arrived just in time to hear the end of the wolf's speech. The lion roared at the fox, but the fox asked for a chance to explain herself. 'After all,' said the fox, 'which one of all the animals assembled here has helped you as I have, travelling all over the world in order to seek out and discover from the doctors a remedy for your illness?' The lion ordered the fox to describe the remedy immediately, and the fox replied, 'You must flay a living wolf and wrap yourself in his skin while it is still warm.' When the wolf had been killed, the fox laughed and said, 'It is better to put your master in a good mood, not a bad one.'
The story shows that someone who plots against others falls into his own trap.

Note: For a similar story about a goat and a donkey, see Fable 147.

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.