Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
164. THE MONKEY AND THE FOX
Perry 533 (Phaedrus
App. 1)
A monkey asked a fox to give him a part of her tail so that he could
respectably cover up his bare behind. The malicious fox said in reply,
'Even if my tail grew longer than it is now, I would sooner drag it through
filth and thorns than share even the smallest part of it with you!'
Note: There is a promythium appended to the fable in Perotti's Appendix:
'A greedy man does not gladly give anything away, even when he has enough
for himself.' For the traditional enmity between the fox and the monkey,
see Fable 24.
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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