Aesop's Fables: The Bear and the Fox

The Peacock and Juno

The Ass and the Old Peasant

The Bear and the Fox

A Bear was once bragging about his generous feelings, and saying how refined he was compared with other animals. (There is, in fact, a tradition that a Bear will never touch a dead body.) A Fox, who heard him talking in this strain, smiled and said, "My friend, when you are hungry, I only wish you _would_ confine your attention to the dead and leave the living alone."