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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

206. THE BOASTFUL MULE
Perry 315 (Babrius 62)

A mule once happened to be eating the food of idleness in his manger. Feeling his oats, so to speak, he burst into a run, whinnying and shaking his head to and fro. 'My mother is a horse,' he shouted, 'and I am no worse at racing than she is!' But suddenly he drew to a halt and hung his head in shame, remembering that his father was only a donkey.

Note: In Plutarch, Banquet of the Seven Sages 4, Aesop tells this same story about a 'Lydian mule' who began boasting when he saw his reflection in the water.


Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.