Source text · edition and source credits · no added LexiArk translation or commentary

Fable · Story

The Master and His Dogs

Aesop (George Fyler Townsend translation)Ancient Greek fable tradition · Townsend translationStory
SOURCE TEXT · English source edition
A CERTAIN MAN, detained by a storm in his country house, first of all killed his sheep, and then his goats, for the maintenance of his household. The storm still continuing, he was obliged to slaughter his yoke oxen for food. On seeing this, his Dogs took counsel together, and said, “It is time for us to be off, for if the master spare not his oxen, who work for his gain, how can we expect him to spare us?”
He is not to be trusted as a friend who mistreats his own family.