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

179. THE WOLF, THE FOX AND THE MONKEY
Perry 474 (Phaedrus 1.10)

Once you get a reputation for dirty tricks, nobody is going to take you seriously, even if you are telling the truth, as one of Aesop's fables attests.
The wolf had accused the fox of theft but the fox denied that she was guilty of the crime. The presiding judge was a monkey. Each of the plaintiffs pleaded their case and the monkey is then said to have pronounced the following verdict: 'As for you, wolf, I do not believe you lost the goods claimed in your suit; as for you, fox, I am convinced you stole the goods, no matter how firmly you deny it.'


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.