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A Fox, swimming across a river, was barely able to reach the bank, where he lay bruised and exhausted from his struggle with the swift current. Soon a swarm of blood-sucking flies settled on him, but he lay quietly, still too weak to run away from them.
A Hedgehog happened by. "Let me drive the flies away," he said kindly.
![[Illustration]](http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/gold/books/winter/aesop/winter_aesop_zpage083.gif)
"No, no!" exclaimed the Fox, "do not disturb them! They have taken all they can hold. If you drive them away, another greedy swarm will come and take the little blood I have left."
Better to bear a lesser evil than to risk a greater in removing it.