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

180. THE JAR GOES TO COURT
Perry 438 (Aristophanes, Wasps 1435 ff.)

There was a woman of Sybaris who broke a jar. The jar then got someone to testify as a witness, but the woman of Sybaris said, 'I swear by the Maiden, you would have been far wiser if you'd gone right away to get a bandage, instead of making a court-case out of it.'

Note: Sybaris was a Greek city in southern Italy which was associated with a particular type of joking story, called a 'Sybaritic' fable (see Fable 344 for another example). 'The Maiden' (in Greek, Kore) was a cult name of Persephone, who was celebrated at the Eleusinian Mysteries, together with her mother Demeter.

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.