A Brazier had a little Dog, which was a great favorite with his master, and his constant companion. While he hammered away at his metals the Dog slept; but when, on the other hand, he went to dinner and began to eat, the Dog woke up and wagged his tail, as if he would ask for a share of his meal. His master one day, pretending to be angry and shaking his stick at him, said, “You wretched little sluggard! what shall I do to you? While I am hammering on the anvil, you sleep on the mat; and when I begin to eat after my toil, you wake up and wag your tail for food. Do you not know that labor is the source of every blessing, and that none but those who work are entitled to eat?”
Credits
Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller, believed to have lived around the 6th century BCE, whose fables have been retold across cultures for over two thousand years. He is best known for short moral tales featuring animals as stand-ins for human behavior. "The Brazier and His Dog" is a particularly domestic fable, set not in the wild but in the everyday world of a craftsman's workshop.
