Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
131. The Lion in a Farmyard (Perry
144)
A LION entered a farmyard. The Farmer, wishing to catch him, shut the
gate. When the Lion found that he could not escape, he flew upon the sheep
and killed them, and then attacked the oxen. The Farmer, beginning to
be alarmed for his own safety, opened the gate and released the Lion.
On his departure the Farmer grievously lamented the destruction of his
sheep and oxen, but his wife, who had been a spectator to all that took
place, said, 'On my word, you are rightly served, for how could you for
a moment think of shutting up a Lion along with you in your farmyard when
you know that you shake in your shoes if you only hear his roar at a distance?'
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. |