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

196. THE SOW, THE DOG AND THEIR LITTERS
Perry 223 (Chambry 342 *)

A sow and a dog were arguing about their litters. The dog said that she had the easiest delivery of all the four-footed animals but the sow responded, 'Be that as it may, the puppies you give birth to are blind!'
The fable shows that an enterprise is not to be judged in terms of its speed but its outcome.

Note: The dog's blind puppies were proverbial in Greek: 'the dog gives birth in a hurry but her pups are born blind' (Erasmus, Adages 2.2.35).


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.