The Flies and the Honey Jar

Illustrations by JVL for the fable of 'The Flies and the Honey Jar', 

Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape 1989.

It is a fable about a honey jar falling from a shelf and spilling honey, with the result that a number of flies are quick to feed themselves on it. While they were gorging the sweet substance their feet soon became clogged and they became immobilised and died. One of the flies, in its dying breath, called out "What fools we are, just for the sake of a rapturous minute, we have destroyed ourselves."