Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others.
第四章
失去了尾巴的狐狸
The Fox Who Had Lost His Tail
一次，一只狐狸无意中落入了陷阱，虽然留住了性命，却失去了尾巴。他深以为耻。为了掩盖自己的耻辱，他决定怂恿其他同伴也把尾巴割掉。于是，他把所有的狐狸都聚集起来，用花言巧语说服他们割掉自己的尾巴。他不厌其烦地介绍没有尾巴的好处：没有尾巴不仅使我们的外表更漂亮，而且可以减轻我们身体的重量，这将会多么便利啊！其中一只狐狸说道：“唉，我的朋友，我敢说如果不是你自己没有尾巴，你是不会给我们提供这个建议的吧！”
怀有私心的人不可能有好主意。
A Fox caught in a trap escaped，but in so doing lost his tail. Thereafter，feeling his life a burden from the shame and ridicule to which he was exposed，he schemed to convince all the other Foxes that being tailless was much more attractive，thus making up for his own deprivation. He assembled a good many Foxes and publicly advised them to cut off their tails，saying that they would not only look much better without them，but that they would get rid of the weight of the brush，which was a very great inconvenience. One of them interrupting him said，“If you had not yourself lost your tail，my friend，you would not thus counsel us.”