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

208. THE COWHIDE AND THE RIVER
Perry 368 (Chambry 320)

The river saw that a cowhide was being swept along by his current, so he said to her, 'What is your name?' The cowhide answered, 'They call me "Tough." ' Splashing the hide with his waves, the river said, 'You better get yourself another name, since I am going to soften you up!'
This fable shows that life's disasters can often bring boastful and presumptuous people back down to earth.


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.