The monkey tricked the cat into pulling chestnuts from the fire — and ate them all

A monkey and a cat sat by a fire in a farm kitchen. In the embers, chestnuts were roasting. The monkey wanted the chestnuts but did not want to burn his fingers. He turned to the cat. 'Friend,' said the monkey, 'you have the most delicate paws in the world. If you pulled the chestnuts from the fire, I believe you would not burn yourself. Do try — the first one is almost done.'

The cat, flattered, reached into the embers and pulled out a chestnut. The monkey snatched it, shelled it and ate it while the cat shook his burned paw. 'One more, they are perfect,' said the monkey. The cat reached again, burning his paw more deeply this time. The monkey ate that one too. This continued until all the chestnuts were gone. The cat had nothing but blistered paws. The monkey had a full belly.

The fable, first recorded by the Greek writer Babrius and often included in Aesop collections, is the archetypal story of the cat's-paw — someone who does the dangerous work while another takes the reward. The cat's error was not the burns but the sequence of choices: each time he reached into the fire, he believed the next chestnut would justify what he had already endured. The monkey did not force him; he offered flattery and the cat supplied the labour himself.