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

213. THE CROW AND THE BOASTFUL SWALLOW
Perry 377 (Chambry 350 *)

The swallow boasted to the crow, 'I am a fair young maiden and the daughter of the King of Athens!' The swallow then proceeded to tell the story of Tereus and how she had been raped by him and how he had cut out her tongue. The crow said to her, 'If you talk so much with your tongue cut out, what would you do if it had been left intact!'

Note: This fable alludes to the famous mythological tale of Procne and Philomela, the daughters of Pandion, king of Athens (see Fable 505). When Procne's husband, Tereus, raped her sister, Philomela, he then cut out her tongue so that she would not be able to denounce him. One version of the legend says that Philomela was then turned into a swallow, while Procne became a nightingale and Tereus became a hoopoe.


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.