“How good and delightful it is when kin dwell together in unity!”

“[T]he fable, according to its proper character, does not pursue moral goals but tries simply to present a truth, a reality, something as typical and which is as it is. Frequently, the discourse of the truth drives it into the realm of cruelty.”

Two men were in one city; one rich and one poor. The rich one had very many flocks and cattle, but the poor one had nothing except one small ewe-lamb that he purchased. He raised her. She grew up with him and his sons together. From his morsel she ate, from his cup she drank, and in his bosom she slept. She was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but it seemed a pity to him to take from his own flocks and cattle to prepare for the wayfarer who came to him. Instead, he took the poor man's ewe-lamb and prepared her for the man who came to him.