Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
259. THE MOLE AND THE FRANKINCENSE
Perry 214 (Chambry
326 *)
A mole (which is a blind animal) told his mother that he could see. The
mother tested him by giving him a grain of frankincense and asking him
what it was. He said it was a little pebble, whereupon she exclaimed,
'My son, in addition to your blindness, you have also lost your sense
of smell!'
So too there are certain charlatans who promise incredible things but
who are revealed for what they truly are in trivial matters.
Note: The mole was proverbial for blindness, as in the Greek saying
'blinder than a mole' (e.g., Apostolius 17.35) and also in Latin, 'you've
got the eyes of a mole' (Jerome,
Epistles 84.7).
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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