A Fox one day tried to drink at a well when he caught his feet on a
stone and fell into the water. It was not so deep as to drown him, yet
the poor Fox could not get out. Soon a Goat came that way. He, too,
thought he would drink, but then he saw the Fox in the well, so he said,
"Is the water good?" "Oh, yes," said the Fox, "it is very good and nice,
and there is a lot of it." In sprang the Goat, and at once the Fox
sprang on to his back, and thence out of the well. "Ah, my friend!" said
he, as he stood safe on the brink, "if your brains had been as large as
your beard, you would have seen where you meant to jump to!" and then
the sly Fox ran off and left the poor Goat in the well. _Look before you
leap._