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A collection of three hundred concise fables presents short animal-centered allegories that illustrate ethical maxims and practical conduct. Each brief narrative stages anthropomorphized creatures whose consistent characteristics drive a single incident that leads to a clear moral. A preface and a short life of the fabulist frame the collection and explain the method and purpose behind the tales. Recurring themes include prudence, vanity, justice, gratitude, and the consequences of folly, with many entries ending in an explicit maxim that distills the lesson.
A MAN committed a murder, and was pursued by the relations of the man whom he murdered. On his reaching the river Nile he saw a Lion on its bank and being fearfully afraid, climbed up a tree. He found a serpent in the upper branches of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river, where a crocodile caught him and ate him. Thus the earth, the air, and the water alike refused shelter to a murderer.