A Farmer caught a fox and put a rope on fire on its tail. The Fox ran through the Farmer’s fields destroying his crop.
Be careful lest revenge backfire.
Townsend version
A farmer, who bore a grudge against a Fox for robbing his poultry yard, caught him at last, and being determined to take an ample revenge, tied some rope well soaked in oil to his tail, and set it on fire. The Fox by a strange fatality rushed to the fields of the Farmer who had captured him. It was the time of the wheat harvest; but the Farmer reaped nothing that year and returned home grieving sorely.
JBR Collection (The Man and The Foxes)
A Man whose vines and orchards had suffered greatly from the ravages of Foxes, one day caught one of these animals in a trap. In a great rage he tied up the Fox’s tail with tow that had been steeped in turpentine, set a light to it, and let him run. Mad with pain and fright, the Fox ran through a large field in which, ripe for the harvest, stood corn belonging to his tormentor. The corn caught fire, and the flames, fanned by the wind, spread over the field and laid it waste. The Man lamented bitterly that he had not chosen some safer and less cruel means of revenge.
Agricola Invidus et Vulpes
Agricola improbus, cum invideret proximo feturam segetis quaereretque quo pacto corrumpere posset eius labores, captam vulpem, alligata face, in vicini segetem dimittit. At illa, non qua missa erat excurrens, volente sic Deo, eius qui dimiserat combussit segetem!
Perry #283
