50. Vulpes a Rustico Capta. Vulpes, capta a rustico cuius quam plurimas gallinas occiderat, blandis eum verbis orabat ut se dimitteret, persancte iurans nullum ulterius damnum se illi illaturam. Cui rusticus “Ignoscerem,” inquit, “tibi perlibenter et te incolumem dimitterem, nisi te subdolum et fidefragum animal cognoscerem. A mortua nullum mihi detrimentum inferri posse, certo scio; a viva vero subdubito.”
Image Source:
Jean-Baptiste Oudry. Just image this fox being captured by the farmer who owns those chickens!
M0050 (not in Perry). Source: Abstemius 192. This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; Perry omitted most of Abstemius’s fables. Compare the fable of the weasel pleading with the man, #193.
