斷尾的狐貍

    A FOX caught in a trap escaped, but in so doing lost his tail.  Thereafter, feeling his life a burden from the shame and ridicule to which he was exposed, he schemed to convince all the other Foxes that being tailless was much more attractive, thus making up for his own deprivation.  He assembled a good many Foxes and publicly advised them to cut off their tails, saying that they would not only look much better without them, but that they would get rid of the weight of the brush, which was a very great inconvenience.  One of them interrupting him said, "If you had not yourself lost your tail, my friend, you would not thus counsel us."

       一只狐貍被捕獸器把尾巴夾斷了。受了這種恥辱以后，他覺得自己臉上無光，生活很不好過，所以他決定勸說其他狐貍也去掉尾巴，大家都一樣了，他的缺點就可以掩飾過去了。于是他召集了所有狐貍，勸說他們割去尾巴，他信口雌黃地說尾巴既不雅觀，又使我們拖著一件笨重的東西，是多余的負擔(dān)。有一只狐貍站起來說：“喂，朋友，如果這不是于你有利，你就不會這樣煞費苦心地來勸說我們了。”
       這故事適用于那些不是出于好意，而是為了自己利益而勸告他人的人。