The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner

by Aesop

While you do not fight yourself, your loud trumpet stirs up all the other soldiers to battle.

A TRUMPETER, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy. He cried out to his captors: Pray spare me, and do not take my life without cause or without inquiry. I have not slain a single man of your troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet. That is the very reason for which you should be put to death, they said; for while you do not fight yourself, your loud trumpet stirs up all the other soldiers to battle.

Moral:
He who incites strife is as guilty as they who strive.

Source:

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