A very long time ago horses lived freely all over the world．One of these horses used to feed every day in a grassy meadow．No other animal used the meadow and the horse felt that it belonged completely to him．Then one day a stag came bounding ov...
A tiger caught a fox on the hunt for animals to devour．You can't be so bold as to eat me．said the fox．I am sent by the heavenly god to rule over the animal kingdom．If you eat me you will be disobeying a heavenly mandate．Do you think I am ly...
A crane and a crow made a league on oath，providing that the crane should protect the crow against other birds，and that the crow should foretell the future，so that the crane could be on her guard．After this，they flew as usual into the fields...
A hunter once had an old and faithful hound．For many years he had been the best dog in the pack，running more swiftly and catching more wild animals than all the others．A day came，however，when he was really too old to carry on any more．Aft...
In the state of Chu，an aristocrat，after offering sacrifices to his ancestors，bestowed a flask of wine on the gentlemen who worked for him．They discussed among themselves．The wine is not enough for all of us but more than sufficient for one...
An Athenian seeing Aesop in a crowd of boys at play with nuts，stopped and laughed at him for a madman．As soon as the sageOne who was good at laughing at others rather than one who was prone to be laughed atperceived this，he placed an unstrung b...
A dog once stole a bone from a butcher's shop．He ran off down the street as fast as he could，across the meadow in the village and down the hill to a rough bridge over a stream．There he paused，panting，to look at the clear，clean water．Wha...
On the river bank lived a number of maidens．One of them was very poor and could not afford a lamp．The others talked about it among themselves and wanted her to leave．When the one who could not afford a lamp was about to go，she said to the oth...
A fly，chancing to sit on the back of a camel，who was trekking along weighed down with heavy burdens，was quite delighted with himself，as he appeared to be so much higher．After they had made along journey，they entered a stable in the evenin...
Once upon a time a shepherd boy was wandering far from home．He lost his way in the forest and as darkness fell he felt very frightened and lonely．Suddenly a large lion came padding out of the trees toward shim．The boy was just about to run for...
Bianque，a famous physician，came to see King Wu of the state of Qin．The King told the doctor about his disease and Bianque was ready to give him a treatment．The ministers at the king's side said to him，Sire，your malady is in front of your...
Socrates having laid for himself the foundation of a small house，one of the people，no matter who，amongst such passing remarks as are usual in these cases，asked，Why do you，so famed as you are，build so small a house？ I only wish，he re...
Once a farmer led a cow to a slaughter-house，but the cow would not go．The farmer started to drag the cow by force，but the cow planted her feet firmly on the ground and would not be moved．What did the farmer do？He brought the cow's calf and...
There was once a shepherd boy who looked after sheep for all the people in the village where he lived．Every morning he collected the sheep from their owners and drove them out onto the hills to feed．Every evening he rounded them carefully up and...
Yanzi came to the state of Chu as an ambassador．The men of the state of Chu knew him to be a short man so they specially opened a little door next to the main entrance and asked him to enter．Yanzi refused．An ambassador to a country of dogs woul...
