Aesop's Fables
A
FLEA thus
questioned an
Ox: "What
ails you, that being so
huge and
strong, you
submit to the
wrongs you receive from men and
slave for them day by day, while I, being so
small a
creature, mercilessly feed on their
flesh and drink their
blood without
stint?' The Ox replied: "I do not wish to be
ungrateful, for I am
loved and well
cared for by men, and they often
pat my head and
shoulders." "Woe's me!" said the flea; "this very
patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my
inevitable destruction."