LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
Once a fox was roaming around in the dark. Unfortunately, he fell into a well. He tried his level best to come out but all in vain. So, he had no other alternative but to remain there till the next morning.
The next day, a goat came that way. She peeped into the well and saw the fox there. The goat asked "what are you doing there, Mr. Fox?"
The sly fox replied, "I came here to drink water. It is the best I have ever tasted. Come and see for yourself."
Without thinking even for a while, the goat jumped into the well, quenched her thirst and looked for a way to get out. But just like the fox, she also found herself helpless to come out.
Then the fox said, "I have an idea. You stand on your hind legs. I'll climb on your head and get out. Then I shall help you come out too."
The goat was innocent enough to understand the shrewdness of the fox and did as the fox said and help him get out of the well.
While walking away, the fox said, "Had you been intelligent enough, you would never have got in without seeing how to get out."
That's why we say, "Look before you leap".