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

401. THE BEES AND THE BEETLES
Perry (Odo 32)

Against people who enjoy only carnal pleasures.
Once upon a time, the bees invited the beetles to dinner. The beetles arrived and when dinner was served the bees offered the beetles some honey and honeycomb. The beetles barely ate anything and then flew away. Next the beetles invited the bees, and when dinner was served, they offered the bees a plate full of dung. The bees wouldn't eat even a single bite and instead they flew straight back home.

Note: For the proverbial opposition between beetles and honey, see Erasmus, Adages 4.8.17: 'faster than a beetle makes honey.'


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.