{"collection":"Classics","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cla/aesop/aes247.htm","path":"cla/aesop/aes247.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cla/aesop/aes247.htm","text":"A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: \"What ails 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, mercilessly feed on their flesh and drink their blood without stint?' The Ox replied: \"I do not wish to be ungrateful, for I am loved and well cared for by men, and they often pat my head and shoulders.\" \"Woe's me!\" said the flea; \"this very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it my inevitable destruction.\"","title":"The Flea and the Ox","type":"page"}