966. Pueri Duo. Pueri duo, alter stultus, alter autem callidus, in commune aliquot nuces invenerant. Quas cum callidus fregisset, putamina cassa stulto dedit et nucleos sibi sumpsit. Frustra ille experitur quid hoc quod tenet prodesse queat, et intellegit sese deceptum. At dixit, “Me non decipiet ultra! Fraudem eius probe ulciscar, si qua fors ferat.” Postmodum cum hi ambo die quodam oleas similiter reperissent, puer qui pari dolo fallaciam nuper sibi factam corrigere cupiebat inquit, “Id quod intra est, da mihi; tibi tolle quod est extra.” Socius in sinu gaudet et, illico iubenti morem gerens, carnem oleaginam, dulcem cibum, sibi capit et misello ultro tradit nucleos duros. Nil usus adiuvat, ubi deest prudentia.
M0966 (not in Perry). Source: Desbillons 6.21 (adapted into prose). This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; it appears original to Desbillons, as he cites no source. For another fable about nuts and their shells, see the traveler who tricked Mercury, #788. For other examples of the wrong lesson learned, see the story of the timid starling, #421, or the story of the seagull and the stars, #481.
