The Fox and the Woodcutter

by Aesop

I should have thanked you more fervently, if your deeds had been as good as your words.

A FOX, running before the hounds, came across a Woodcutter felling an oak, and begged him to show him a safe hiding-place. The Woodcutter advised him to take shelter in his own hut. The Fox crept in and hid himself in a corner. The Huntsman soon came up, with his hounds, in a few minutes, and inquired of the Woodcutter if he had seen the Fox.

He declared that he had not seen him, and yet pointed, all the time he was speaking, to the hut where the Fox lay hid. The huntsman took no notice of the signs, but believing his word, hastened forward in the chase. As soon as they were well away, the Fox departed without taking any notice of the Woodcutter; whereon he called to him, and reproached him, saying, You ungrateful fellow, you owe your life to me, and yet you leave me without a word of thanks. The Fox replied: Indeed, I should have thanked you more fervently, if your deeds had been as good as your words.

Source:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.