This fable points much the same way as the seventy-sixth, so that one
moral may very well serve for both. But the lesson they teach is so
useful and instructive, that a repetition of it is by no means
superfluous. The precept which they would instil into us is, never to
let slip the present opportunity, but to secure to ourselves every
little advantage, just in the nick that it offers, without a vain
reliance upon, and fruitless expectation of, something better in time to
come. We may cheer up our spirits with hoping for that which we cannot
at present obtain; but at the same time let us be sure we give no
occasion of condemning ourselves for omitting any thing which it was in
our power to secure.