Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
351. JUPITER AND THE FOX
Perry 107 (Romulus
ad Rufum 5.9)
No piece of luck can conceal a depraved nature.
Jupiter had turned the fox into the likeness of a human being and had
seated her on the throne as his queen. But when the fox happened to notice
a beetle creeping out from its hole, she leaped up and began chasing this
familiar object of prey. The gods laughed at the fox as she ran, while
the great father of the gods blushed and renounced his relations with
the fox. As he chased her out of the chamber, Jupiter said, 'Live the
life you deserve, since you clearly are not worthy of my favours!'
Note: In the Greek prose version (Chambry
119), it is Zeus himself who lets loose the beetle to test the fox's
transformation.
 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.
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