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

280. THE MOUNTAIN IN LABOUR
Perry 520 (Phaedrus 4.24)

A mountain had gone into labour and was groaning terribly. Such rumours excited great expectations all over the country. In the end, however, the mountain gave birth to a mouse.
This is a fable written for people who make serious-sounding threats but who actually accomplish nothing.

Note: Thanks to its citation by Horace, Art of Poetry 139, this proverbial saying has enjoyed a long-lived popularity.

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.