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Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)246. The Flea and the Ox (Perry 273) A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: 'What ails you, that being so huge and strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?' The Ox replied: 'I do not wish to be ungrateful, for I am loved and well cared for by men, and they often pat my head and shoulders.' 'Woe's me!' said the flea; 'this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my inevitable destruction.' 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. |
