Aesop's fables generally communicate some kind of moral message, often through the depiction of animals, who speak or otherwise take on human characteristics.
Stories for Kids || Aesop's Fables || Hercules and the Waggoner

Hercules and the Waggoner

A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way. At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and
prayed to Hercules the Strong.

‘O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress,’ quoth he. But Hercules appeared to him, and said:

‘Tut, man, don’t sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel.’

The gods help them that help themselves.

 

The Cock and the Pearl - Stories for Kids : Aesop's Fables
Aesop's fables generally communicate some kind of moral message, often through the depiction of animals, who speak or otherwise take on human characteristics.
Stories for Kids || Aesop's Fables || The Cock and the Pearl

The Cock and the Pearl


A cock was once strutting up and down the farmyard among the hens when suddenly he espied something shinning amid the straw. ‘Ho! ho!’ quoth he, ‘that’s for me,’ and soon rooted it out from beneath the straw. What did it turn out to be but a Pearl that by some chance had been lost in the yard? ‘You may be a treasure,’ quoth Master Cock, ‘to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls.’


Moral of the Story: Precious things are for those that can prize them.