[87] But the Book of Judges was probably edited after the
        time of Hesiod, whose fable of the Hawk and the
        Nightingale (Works and Days, B. i, v. 260) must be
        considered as the oldest extant fable.

   [88] This theory, though perhaps somewhat ingenious, is
        generally considered as utterly untenable.

It is said that Rabbi Meir knew upwards of three hundred fables relating to the fox alone; but of these only three fragments have been preserved, and this is one of them, according to Mr. Polano’s translation: 

The Fox and the Bear.

A Fox said to a Bear:  “Come, let us go into this kitchen; they are making preparations for the Sabbath, and we shall be able to find food.”  The Bear followed the Fox, but, being bulky, he was captured and punished.  Angry thereat, he designed to tear the Fox to pieces, under the pretence that the forefathers of the Fox had once stolen his food, wherein occurs the saying, “the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge."[89] “Nay,” said the Fox, “come with me, my good friend; let us not quarrel.  I will lead thee to another place where we shall surely find food.”  The Fox then led the Bear to a deep well, where two buckets were fastened together by a rope, like a balance.  It was night, and the Fox pointed to the moon reflected in the water, saying:  “Here is a fine cheese; let us descend and partake of it.”  The Fox entered his bucket first, but being too light to balance the weight of the Bear, he took with him a stone.  As soon as the Bear had got into the other bucket, however, the Fox threw the stone away, and consequently the bear descended to the bottom and was drowned.

   [89] Ezekiel, xviii, 2.

* * * * *

The reader will doubtless recognise in this fable the original of many modern popular tales having a similar catastrophe.  It will also be observed that the vulgar saying of the moon being “a fine cheese” is of very considerable antiquity.[90]

   [90] This wide-spread fable is found in the Disciplina
        Clericalis (No. 21) and in the collection of Marie de
        France, of the 13th century; and it is one of the many
        spurious Esopic fables.

And here is another rabbinical fable of a Fox—­a very common character in the apologues of most countries; although the “moral” appended to this one by the pious fabulist is much more striking than is sometimes the case of those deduced from beast-fables: 

The Fox in the Garden.