Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
A Fox fell into a deep well from which he could not get out. A Goat passed by shortly afterwards, and asked the Fox what he was doing down there.
"Oh, have you not heard?" said the Fox; "there is going to be a great drought, so I jumped down here in order to be sure to have water by me. Why don't you come down too?"
The Goat thought well of this advice, and jumped down into the well.
The Fox immediately jumped on her back, and by putting his foot on her long horns managed to jump up to the edge of the well. "Good-bye, friend," said the Fox, "if you had brains equal to the number of hairs in your beard you would not have jumped down without a way back up."
Townsend version
A fox one day fell into a deep well and could find no means of escape. A Goat, overcome with thirst, came to the same well, and seeing the Fox, inquired if the water was good. Concealing his sad plight under a merry guise, the Fox indulged in a lavish praise of the water, saying it was excellent beyond measure, and encouraging him to descend. The Goat, mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, but just as he drank, the Fox informed him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested a scheme for their common escape. "If," said he, "you will place your forefeet upon the wall and bend your head, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards." The Goat readily assented and the Fox leaped upon his back. Steadying himself with the Goat's horns, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast as he could. When the Goat upbraided him for breaking his promise, he turned around and cried out, "You foolish old fellow! If you had as many brains in your head as you have hairs in your beard, you would never have gone down before you had inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to dangers from which you had no means of escape."
Moral
Look before you leap.
L'Estrange version
A fox and a goat went down by consent into a well to drink, and when they had quench'd their thirst, the goat fell to hunting up and down which way to get back again. Oh! says Reynard, never trouble your head how to get back, but leave that to me. Do but you raise your self upon your hinder legs with your fore-feet close to the wall, and then stretch out your head: I can easily whip up to your horns, and so out of the well, and draw you after me. The goat puts himself in posture immediately as he was directed, gives the fox a lift, and so out he springs; but Reynard's bus'ness was now only to make sport with his companion instead of helping him. Some hard words the goat gave him, but the fox puts off all with a jest. If you had but half so much brains as you have beard, says he, you would have bethought your self how to get up again before you went down.
Moral
A wise man will debate every thing pro and con before he comes to fix upon any resolution. He leaves nothing to chance more than needs must. There must be no bantering out of season.
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved