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

476. THE TRAVELLER AND HERMES
Perry 178 (Chambry 260)

A traveller who needed to make a long journey vowed that if he found anything, he would give half of it to Hermes. When he came across a bag full of dates and almonds he grabbed the bag and ate the almonds and dates. He then placed the pits of the dates and the shells of the almonds upon an altar and said 'You have what was promised you, O Hermes: I have saved the outsides and the insides for you!'
The fable can be used for a money-grubbing man who is so greedy that he even tries to trick the gods.


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.