Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
119. The Old Lion (Perry 481)
A LION, worn out with years and powerless from disease, lay on the ground
at the point of death. A Boar rushed upon him, and avenged with a stroke
of his tusks a long-remembered injury. Shortly afterwards the Bull with
his horns gored him as if he were an enemy. When the Ass saw that the
huge beast could be assailed with impunity, he let drive at his forehead
with his heels. The expiring Lion said, 'I have reluctantly brooked the
insults of the brave, but to be compelled to endure such treatment from
thee, a disgrace to Nature, is indeed to die a double death.'
George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is
in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project
Gutenberg.
Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with
illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google
Books. |