Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
245. THE LION AND THE MOUSE ON HIS MANE
Perry 146 (Babrius
82)
While a lion was sleeping, a mouse ran over his shaggy mane. This angered
the lion and he leaped up from his den, all the hairs of his mane standing
on end. A fox made fun of the fact that a lion, king of all the animals,
had been startled by a mouse. The lion answered the fox, 'You insolent
creature! I was not afraid of the mouse scratching me and running away;
I was just worried that he might make a mess on my mane.'
Note: An epimythium probably added by a
later editor reads: 'Check the bold advances of insolent people
at the very outset, no matter how small, and do not allow trivial persons
to treat you with disrespect.'
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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