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

6. THE DONKEY, THE PRIESTS AND THE TAMBOURINES
Perry 164 (Phaedrus 4.1)

It is not enough that a man who is born under an unlucky star leads an unhappy life: the bitter affliction of his fate pursues him even after he is dead.
The Galli, those priests of the goddess Cybebe, used a donkey to carry their luggage when they went around begging for alms. When their donkey finally died, overcome by work and the whip, they stripped his hide and made themselves some tambourines. When someone asked them what they had done with their darling donkey, the priests replied, 'He thought that once he died he would get some rest, but he keeps on getting beaten just the same!'

Note: For another fable about the Galli, priests of the Anatolian goddess Cybebe (or Cybele), see Fable 244. These priests were famous for their raucous music, including the use of tambourines.


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.