A fox digging in the ground found herself in a dragon's den filled with golden treasure.
"I beg your pardon," she said to the dragon. "I ended up here by accident, and I'll be on my way. Before I go, though, I'd like to know just what you plan to do with all this treasure."
"I have no use for the treasure," said the dragon, "but it is my fate to spend my life here guarding the treasure, night and day."
"Then you're a wretched creature indeed," replied the fox. "You do possess a treasure, but I envy you not."
Inspired by: Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists by Roger L'Estrange, 475.
Notes: This is Perry 518.
Here is an illustration from a 17th-century edition of Phaedrus:
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