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

292. THE FARMER AND HIS DOGS
Perry 52 (Chambry 80 *)

There was a farmer who was trapped on his country estate by a winter storm. He didn't have any food, so first he ate his sheep, then his goats. When the storm got worse, he even slaughtered the oxen who pulled his plow. When the dogs saw what was happening, they said to one another, 'Let's get out of here now! Since we can see that the master didn't even spare the oxen who labour on his behalf, how can we expect to be spared?'
The story shows that you should especially avoid someone who does not even spare his own people.

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.