The Peasant and the Fox.
Said a Fox to a Peasant, one day:
"Tell me, my dear gossip, what has the horse done to deserve such friendship at your hands, that, as I see, he is always by your side? You keep him in plenty and well cared for. When journeying, you go along with him, and with him you constantly go afield. And yet, of all animals, he surely is all but the stupidest!"
"Ah, gossip!" replied the Peasant, "this isn't a question of wisdom: all that 's mere stuff. That isn't at all what I go in for. What I want is that he should carry me and obey the whip."
17—2
