The Fox Without a Tail

It happened that a Fox caught its tail in a trap, and in
struggling to release himself lost all of it but the stump¹.  At
first he was ashamed to show himself among his fellow foxes.  But
at last he determined² to put a bolder face upon his misfortune,
and summoned all the foxes to a general meeting to consider a
proposal which he had to place before them.  When they had
assembled together the Fox proposed that they should all do away
with their tails.  He pointed³ out how inconvenient⁴ a tail was when
they were pursued by their enemies, the dogs; how much it was in
the way when they desired to sit down and hold a friendly
conversation with one another.  He failed to see any advantage in
carrying about such a useless encumbrance⁵.  "That is all very
well," said one of the older foxes; "but I do not think you would
have recommended us to dispense⁶ with our chief ornament⁷ if you had
not happened to lose it yourself."


Distrust interested advice.