A Crab left the seashore to feed in a meadow. A hungry Fox ate him up. The Crab probably should not have left the shore!
Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
Aesop For Children
A Crab one day grew disgusted with the sands in which he lived. He decided to take a stroll to the meadow not far inland. There he would find better fare than briny water and sand mites. So off he crawled to the meadow. But there a hungry Fox spied him, and in a twinkling, ate him up, both shell and claw.
Moral
Be content with your lot.
Townsend version
A crab, forsaking the seashore, chose a neighboring green meadow as its feeding ground. A Fox came across him, and being very hungry ate him up. Just as he was on the point of being eaten, the Crab said, “I well deserve my fate, for what business had I on the land, when by my nature and habits I am only adapted for the sea?’
Moral
Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
L’Estrange version
A fox that was sharp-set, surpriz’d a crab, as he lay out of the sea upon the sands, and carry’d him away. The crab, when he found that he was to be eaten, Well (says he) this comes of meddling where we have nothing to do; for my bus’ness lay at sea, not upon the land.
Moral
No body pities a man for any misfortune that befalls him, in matters out of his way, bus’ness, or calling.
Gherardo Image from 1480
Cancer et Vulpes
Cancer, egressus e mari, quodam in loco pascebatur. Vulpes, esuriens, eum conspicata, accedens arripuit. Tum is, cum devorandus iam esset, “Merito,” inquit, “haec patior, qui marinus cum sim, terrestris esse volui.”
Perry #116
