伊索寓言:寡妇和她的女仆 The Widow and Her Little Maidens

A widow who was fond of cleaning had two little maidens to wait on her.  She was in the habit of waking them early in the morning, at cockcrow.  The maidens, aggravated by such excessive labor, resolved to kill the cock who roused their mistress so early.  When they had done this, they found that they had only prepared for themselves greater troubles, for their mistress, no longer hearing the hour from the cock, woke them up to their work in the middle of the night.

一个寡妇，雇佣了几名女仆，她总是在每天清晨公鸡啼叫的时候，就催促她们去劳动，哪怕是夜半鸡叫也照催不误，这样一来，女仆们每天都疲惫不堪。于是，她们认为是倒霉的公鸡不到天亮就把女主人叫醒，是害得她们精疲力竭的罪魁祸首，决定把公鸡的脖子给拧断。结果，弄死了公鸡，情形却变得更糟。因为，女主人在没有公鸡报时的情况下，总是更早地来把女仆们叫醒，她们自发的计谋苦了自己。