Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXCIX
Fab. CXCIX.
A Shepherd and his Sheep.
IN Old time when Sheep fed like Hogs upon Acorns, a Shepherd drove his Flock into a Little Oak-Wood, spread his Coat under a Tree, and up he went to shake 'em down some Mast. The Sheep were so Keen upon the Acorns, that they Gobbled up now and then a Piece of the Coat along with ’em. When the Shepherd took Notice of it: What a Company of Ungrateful Wretches are you, says he, that Cloath all Other People that have No Relation to you, and yet Strip Your Master, that gives ye both Food and Protection!
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
'TIS a Freak mightily in Fashion among some People to Affect a Singularity in their Lives and Manners, and to Live in a Direct Opposition to the Ordinary Rules of Prudence and Good Nature, As in returning Evil for Good for the Purpose; Nay, and in some Cases, Good for Evil too; where ’tis done more to be seen of Men then for God fake, and where the Vanity of Doing it Destroys the Merit of the Vertue. The Fable will also bear This Moral, That Eager Appetites have not a Right Taft of Things; for the Coat goes down as well as the Acorns: But the main Stress of it falls upon Those that Rob Peter, as we say, to Pay Paul, and take the Bread out of their Masters Mouths to give it to Strangers. And the Kindness of the Master is yet a Further Aggravation of the Crime. We have abundance of Cases in Practice, as well as in Story, that strike upon This Topique. Have we never read of a Sacrilegious Convocation of Divines, that at the same Time that they liv’d upon the Altar, Betray’d it; and while they Robb’d God himself of his Due, Divided the Spoils of the Church among the Rabble. Have we never heard of Men that Gobbled the Privileges and Revenues of the Crown, and then Squander’d them away in Donatives upon the Common People? Or, What shall we say of the Scofling Atheist, that turns all the Powers and Faculties of his Soul, as much as in him lies, to the Reproach of his Maker, and yet at the same time too as Pleasant Company to the World as the Wit of a Libertine can make him. What is all This now but a Sheep Stripping his Master, and Cloathing Strangers.