A Goatherd was tending his goats out at pasture when he saw a number of Wild Goats approach and mingle with his flock. At the end of the day he drove them home and put them all into the pen together. Next day the weather was so bad that he could not take them out as usual: so he kept them at home in the pen, and fed them there. He only gave his own goats enough food to keep them from starving, but he gave the Wild Goats as much as they could eat and more; for he was very anxious for them to stay, and he thought that if he fed them well they wouldn't want to leave him. When the weather improved, he took them all out to pasture again; but no sooner had they got near the hills than the Wild Goats broke away from the flock and scampered off. The Goatherd was very much disgusted at this, and roundly abused them for their ingratitude. “Rascals!” he cried, “to run away like that after the way I've treated you!” Hearing this, one of them turned round and said, “Oh, yes, you treated us all right—too well, in fact; it was just that that put us on our guard. If you treat newcomers like ourselves so much better than your own flock, it's more than likely that, if another lot of strange goats joined yours, we should then be neglected in favour of the last comers.”
有一个牧羊人，看着他的山羊在草地吃草，他看到一群野山羊过来和他的羊混在了一起。傍晚时分，他把羊赶回家，关进了羊圈。第二天，天气不好，他便没有像过去那样赶羊群出去，而是将它们关在羊圈里面，用饲料喂它们。只是他给自己的山羊的食物仅能维持它们不至于饿坏，但是给野山羊的饲料却多得多，因为他很希望它们能够留下来，他觉得如果他把它们喂养得足够好，它们就不会离开了。天气渐渐转好，他又把羊赶到草地上，但是一到山附近，野山羊便冲出羊群，纷纷跑了。牧羊人十分恼怒，严厉地咒骂它们忘恩负义。“浑蛋！我那么对待你们，你们居然这么一走了之！”听到这话，一只野山羊回头说：“噢，是啊，你对我们很好，有点太好了，正是这样我们才不得不防备。如果你对待新来的总是比你自己的羊群好，实际上你就是如此，如果过段日子来了另一群羊，你就会为讨好新来的而忽略我们了！”