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

260. THE MOLE AND THE FRANKINCENSE
Perry 214 (Chambry 326)

Moles are blind animals. A mole once said to his mother, 'I see a mulberry, mother!' Then he said, 'And I smell incense all around!' And he spoke a third time and said, 'And I can hear the sound of a tiny bronze ball.' His mother then said, 'My son, now I understand that in addition to lacking sight, you have also lost your sense of hearing and smell!'
The story shows that there are some charlatans who promise incredible things but who are revealed for what they truly are in trivial matters.

Note: In this more elaborate version of the preceding fable, the mole provides three distinct impressions of the grain of incense: it looks like a berry, it smells like incense, and it sounds like a little metal ball.


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.