Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Oxen and the Butchers
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
THE OXEN AND THE BUTCHERS.
The Oxen once on a time sought to destroy the Butchers, who practised a trade destructive to their race. They assembled on a certain day to carry out their purpose, and sharpened their horns for the contest. One of them, an exceedingly old one (for many a field had he ploughed), thus spoke: "These Butchers, it is true, slaughter us, but they do so with skilful hands, and with no unnecessary pain. If we get rid of them, we shall fall into the hands of unskilful operators, and thus suffer a double death: for you may be assured, that though all the Butchers should perish, yet will men never want beef."
Do not be in a hurry to change one evil for another.