# The Fox and the Goat _Retold by Talerie (talerie.com) from Aesop’s Fables: a new translation_ · 2 min read · ages 4+ A fox trapped in a well praises the water to a thirsty goat, then climbs out over the goat’s back and horns, promising to pull him up afterward. When the goat calls after him, the fox turns and tells him that with real sense in his head he would never have jumped in without making sure he could get out. --- Once upon a time a fox fell into a well, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not get out again. The stone walls rose straight up all around him, and there was nothing to hold on to. By and by a thirsty goat came along. He looked over the edge, saw the fox down below, and asked him whether the water was good. “Good?” said the fox. “It’s the best water I’ve ever tasted. Come down and try it yourself.” The goat thought of nothing but his thirst, and he jumped in at once. He drank and drank until he was full. Then, just as the fox had done, he looked around for a way to get out, but he couldn’t find one. After a while the fox said, “I have an idea. You stand up on your hind legs and plant your front hooves firmly against the side of the well. I’ll climb onto your back, and from there I can step on your horns and get out. And once I’m out, I’ll pull you up after me.” The goat did just as he was told. Up went the fox onto his back, from his back onto his horns, and from his horns over the rim and out of the well. Then he calmly walked away. “Wait!” the goat called after him at the top of his voice. “You promised to help me out!” The fox only turned and looked down at him. “If you had as much sense in your head as you have hair in your beard,” he said, “you would never have jumped into this well without making sure you could get out again.” **Moral:** Look before you leap. --- - Read online: https://talerie.com/en/tales/the-fox-and-the-goat - Also in: [German](https://talerie.com/de/maerchen/der-fuchs-und-der-ziegenbock.md) - Author's country: Greece (https://talerie.com/en/tales/country/greece) - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q54306045 - Source: Aesop's Fables: a new translation, tr. V. S. Vernon Jones (1912) (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11339) - Public-domain basis: Talerie contemporary retelling (CC0 2026), based on: Aesop's Fables: a new translation, tr. V. S. Vernon Jones (1912) — translation: author died 564 BC (+70 passed); translator V. S. Vernon Jones died 1955 (+70 passed) - License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)