A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: "What stops you, that being so huge and strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, easily feed on their flesh and drink their blood without any interference ?'
The Ox replied: "I do not wish to be ungrateful, for I am loved and well cared by men, and they often touch my head and shoulders very lovingly."
"How sad of me!" said the flea; "this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my end."