aesop's fables

"❁ the goatherd & the wild goats

it was a dark, snowy evening
when a goatherd drove his goats into a desert cave for shelter.
there he found a large herd of wild goats,
each bigger and stronger than his own,
had already taken shelter in the cave.

thinking that he could add the wild goats to his own herd,
he left his own goats in the front of the cave
and threw the food he had brought for them to the wild goats.
then he settled down for a nap.
but when the weather cleared up and the sun shone again
he found his own goats had died of hunger,
while the wild goats were off and away
to roam in the hills and woods.

he returned as the laughingstock of the neighborhood,
for he had failed to get the wild goats
and had lost his own goats in the process.

those who neglect their old friends for the sake of new are rightly served if they lose both.