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.
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