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

62. THE LION AND THE BEAR
Perry 147 (Chambry 200 *)

A lion and a bear had found a fawn and were fighting to see who would keep it. In the protracted violence of the battle, they had both grown faint from fighting so they called a truce in order to rest. Meanwhile, there was a fox who had been pacing around them in circles. When she saw that they had fallen to the ground with the fawn lying between them, she dashed up, grabbed the fawn and took off at a run. The lion and the bear were not even able to get to their feet, so they sat there watching the fox disappear. 'What fools we are,' they said, 'for having gone to so much trouble on that fox's behalf!'
The fable shows that while some people do all the work, others make off with the profit.

Note: L'Estrange's epimythium associates this fable the land of Gotham, the traditional abode of fools: ' 'Tis the Fate of all Gotham Quarrels, when Fools go together by the Ears, to have Knaves run away with the Stakes.'

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.