The adage "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched" had never been so apt.

Dorcon, having thus been rescued from the jaws of the dogs and not, as the old adage has it, from those of the wolf, went home to nurse himself; while Daphnis and Chloe were occupied until nightfall in the difficult task of collecting their sheep and goats, which being terrified by the sight of the wolfskin and the barking of the dogs had dispersed in different directions.

Doesn't the adage say: "Since the villagers love their donkey, we must hurry to bring him food!"