A GOATHERD, driving his flock from their pasture at eventide,

　　found some Wild Goats mingled2 among them, and shut them up

　　together with his own for the night. The next day it snowed very

　　hard, so that he could not take the herd1 to their usual feeding

　　places, but was obliged to keep them in the fold. He gave his

　　own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive, but fed the

　　strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing3 them to stay

　　with him and of making them his own. When the thaw4 set in, he

　　led them all out to feed, and the Wild Goats scampered5 away as

　　fast as they could to the mountains. The Goatherd scolded them

　　for their ingratitude6 in leaving him, when during the storm he

　　had taken more care of them than of his own herd. One of them,

　　turning about, said to him: "That is the very reason why we are

　　so cautious; for if you yesterday treated us better than the

　　Goats you have had so long, it is plain also that if others came

　　after us, you would in the same manner prefer them to ourselves."

　　Old friends cannot with impunity7 be sacrificed for new ones.