Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
395. THE DAUGHTER AND THE HIRED MOURNERS
Perry 205 (Chambry
310 *)
There was a rich man who had two daughters, but one of his daughters
died. He hired some women to do the mourning and they let loose a whole
chorus of weeping. The other daughter remarked to her mother, 'We are
surely wretched women if we cannot come up with a lament for our own loss,
while these women, who are not even members of the family, beat their
breasts and grieve so deeply.' The mother replied, 'Don't be surprised,
my child: they do it for the money!'
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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