A _Lyon_, _Ass_ and _Fox_.
There was a Hunting-Match agreed upon betwixt a _Lyon_, an _Ass_, and
a _Fox_, and they were to go Equal Shares in the Booty. They ran down
a Brave Stag, and the _Ass_ was to Divide the Prey; which he did very
Honestly and Innocently in to Three Equal Parts, and left the _Lyon_ to
take his Choice: Who never minded the _Dividend_; but in a Rage Worry’d
the _Ass_, and then bad the _Fox_ Divide; who had the Wit to make Only
One Share of the Whole, saving a Miserable Pittance that he Reserv’d
for Himself. The _Lyon_ highly approv’d of his Way of Distribution; but
Prithee _Reynard_, says he, who taught thee to Carve? Why truly says the
_Fox_, I had an _Ass_ to my Master; and it was His Folly made me Wise.
The MORAL.
_There must be no Shares in Sovereignty. Court-Conscience is Policy. The
Folly of One Man makes Another Man Wise; as One Man Grows Rich upon the
Ruines of Another._