A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of grapes hanging from a vine that
was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping
as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out
of reach: so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and
unconcern, remarking, “I thought those grapes were ripe, but I see
now they are quite sour.”
A Man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a Goose which laid
a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think
they were not getting rich fast enough, and imagining the bird must be made
of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order to secure the whole store of
precious metal at once. But when they cut it open they found it was just
like any other goose. Thus, they neither got rich all at once, as they had
hoped, nor enjoyed any longer the daily addition to their wealth.
There was once a house that was overrun with Mice. A Cat heard of this,
and said to herself, “That’s the place for me,” and off she went and took
up her quarters in the house, and caught the Mice one by one and ate them.
At last the Mice could stand it no longer, and they determined to take to their
holes and stay there.“That’s awkward,” said the Cat to herself: “the only
thing to do is to coax them out by a trick.” So she considered a while, and
then climbed up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from
a peg, and pretended to be dead. By and by a Mouse peeped out and saw
the Cat hanging there. “Aha!” it cried, “you’re very clever, madam, no doubt:
but you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet
you won’t catch us coming anywhere near you.”

There was once a Dog who used to snap at people and bite them without any
provocation, and who was a great nuisance to every one who came to his
master’s house. So his master fastened a bell round his neck to warn people
of his presence. The Dog was very proud of the bell, and strutted about tinkling
it with immense satisfaction. But an old dog came up to him and said, “The
fewer airs you give yourself the better, my friend. You don’t think, do you, that
your bell was given you as a reward of merit? On the contrary, it is a badge of disgrace.”
There was once a Charcoal-burner who lived and worked by himself. A Fuller,
however, happened to come and settle in the same neighborhood; and the
Charcoal-burner, having made his acquaintance and finding he was an agreeable
sort of fellow, asked him if he would come and share his house: “We shall get to
know one another better that way,” he said, “and, beside, our household expenses
will be diminished.” The Fuller thanked him, but replied, “I couldn’t think of it, sir:
why, everything I take such pains to whiten would be blackened in no time
by your charcoal.”