Aesop's Fables, Volume 02 (Fables 26-50) — The Flea and The Man

THE FLEA AND THE MAN

A Flea bit a Man, and bit him again, and again, till he could stand it no longer, but made a thorough search for it, and at last succeeded in catching it.

Holding it between his finger and thumb, he said--or rather shouted, so angry was he--"Who are you, pray, you wretched little creature, that you make so free with my person?"

The Flea, terrified, whimpered in a weak little voice, "Oh, sir!

pray let me go; don't kill me!

I am such a little thing that I can't do you much harm."

But the Man laughed and said, "I am going to kill you now, at once: whatever is bad has got to be destroyed, no matter how slight the harm it does."

Do not waste your pity on a scamp.