Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCCCXL and CCCCXLI

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CCCCXL.

A Gard’ner and a Mole.

A Gard'ner took a Mole in his Grounds, and the Question was, whether he should put her to Death or no. The Mole Pleaded that she was one of his Family, and Digg’d his Garden for Nothing : Nay, she Insisted upon’t, what Pity ‘twas to Destroy a Creature that had so smooth a Skin, and Twenty other Little Pretences. Come, come, says the Gard'ner, I am not to be Fool'd with a Parcel of Fair VVords: You have Nothing for Digging ‘tis True; but pray who set you at VVork? Is it for my Service dye think, to have my Plants and my Herbs torn up by the Roots? And what's your bus'ness at last, but by doing all you can for the filling of your own Belly, to leave me nothing to Eat?

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Fab.. CCCCXLI.

A Man and a Weazle.

THere was a Weazle taken in a Trapp, and whether she should Dye or not, was the Point: The Master of the House Charg’d her with heavy Misdemeanors, and the Poor Vermine stood much upon her Innocence and Merit. Why says she, I keep your House clear of Mice. Well, says the Man, but you do't for your Own sake, not for Mine. What work would they make in the Pantry and the Larder , (says she) if it were not for me? And in the mean time (says the Master of the House) You your Self devour the same things that they would have Eaten, Mice and All: But you would fain sham it upon me, that you do me a Service, when in Truth you do mean Injury; and therefore you deserve a double Death; First, For the Fault it self, and then for the Justification of it.

The Moral of the Two Fables above.

'Tis according to the Course of those Kind Offices in the World, which we call Friendship, to do one another Good for our Own Sakes.

REFLEXION.

There’s nothing Commoner in this World then the Case of the Mole here and the Weazle: That is to say, the Case of People that Value themselves mightily upon Merit; when in the mean time they do only their own Bus'ness. What Virtue is it for me to do another Man good by Chance; or where's the Obligation of doing it for my own Profit? 'Tis the Will of a Man that qualifies the Action. A Body may do me Good, and yet Deserve to be Punish’d for't. He may save my Life for the purpose, with an Intention to take it away. There is however some Regard to be had to the very Instrument that Providence makes use of for our Advantage. But this is out of a Respect to the Providence, not to the Man: And we are not yet come up to the Force of the Fable neither; for many People have the Confidence to Plead Merit when Effectually they do us Mischief.