Aesop's Fables · Chapter
The Mistress and Her Servants explained
A thrifty widow keeps her two servants hard at work, waking them at cockcrow.
What happens
A thrifty widow keeps her two servants hard at work, waking them at cockcrow. The servants, resenting the early hour, kill the rooster to sleep longer. But without the rooster, the mistress wakes them even earlier, making their situation worse.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the victor Cock, swollen with pride after his triumph, is sud…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Wisdom and Foolishness
The servants foolishly kill the cock, only to worsen their own plight.
- Justice and Consequence
Their action backfires, illustrating that ill-considered deeds bring unintended consequences.
Characters to notice
- The Cock
Killed by the servants for waking them early.
- The Mistress
A thrifty widow who wakes her servants at cockcrow.
Key passages
“They disliked intensely having to get up at such an hour, especially in wintertime: and they thought that if it were not for the cock waking up their Mistress so horribly early, they could sleep longer.”
The servants hated rising early, especially in winter, and blamed the rooster for their early wake-up.
Shows the servants' flawed reasoning.
“But they weren’t prepared for the consequences. For what happened was that their Mistress, not hearing the cock crow as usual, waked them up earlier than ever, and set them to work in the middle of the night.”
Their plan backfired: without the rooster, the mistress woke them even earlier.
Highlights the ironic twist and moral.
