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

544. THE RICH MAN AND THE TANNER
Perry 204 (Chambry 309)

A rich man was living next door to a tanner and could not stand the foul odour. He urged the tanner to move away but the tanner put him off, always saying 'In a little while.' This happened repeatedly, until the rich man got used to the foul odour and didn't bother the tanner any more.
The story shows that familiarity can alleviate seemingly intractable problems.


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.