Aesop's Fables (Joseph Jacobs)
Jacobs 44. The Man and His Mother (Perry
200)
A young Man had been caught in a daring act of theft and had been condemned
to be executed for it. He expressed his desire to see his Mother, and
to speak with her before he was led to execution, and of course this was
granted. When his Mother came to him he said: "I want to whisper
to you," and when she brought her ear near him, he nearly bit it
off. All the bystanders were horrified, and asked him what he could mean
by such brutal and inhuman conduct. "It is to punish her," he
said. "When I was young I began with stealing little things, and
brought them home to Mother. Instead of rebuking and punishing me, she
laughed and said: "It will not be noticed." It is because of
her that I am here to-day."
"He is right, woman," said the Priest; "the Lord hath
said:
"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he
will not depart therefrom."
The
Fables of Aesop, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by
Richard Heighway (1894). The page images come from Google
Books. The digitized text comes from Project
Gutenberg. You can purchase this inexpensive Dover edition, The
Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs from amazon.com.
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