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

430. THE DOG AND THE SHELLFISH
Perry 253 (Chambry 181)

There was a certain dog who liked to swallow eggs. When he happened to come across a shellfish, he thought it was an egg. The dog opened his mouth, took a great big gulp, and swallowed the shellfish whole. When his stomach grew heavy and began to ache, the dog remarked, 'Well, that's what I get for thinking that anything round must be an egg!'
The story teaches us that there are unexpected consequences in store for people who attempt to do something that is beyond their comprehension.


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.