19. THE FOX AND THE CROCODILE. There happened to be an argument once between a quiet cynic of a Fox and a conceited vulgar Crocodile upon the point of Blood and Extraction; the Crocodile boasted of his descent and the renown of his Ancestors.
"Our family," said he, "is of the greatest antiquity. We were princes in Egypt before the foundation of the Pyramids."
"Friend," said the Fox, smiling, and pointing with his claw to certain dabs of mud resting between the coarse excrescences of the speaker's hide, "there will need no herald to prove your gentility, for you carry the marks of your origin on your very skin."
MORAL. No disgrace can arise from a humble origin but the folly of denying it. [more info]
"Our family," said he, "is of the greatest antiquity. We were princes in Egypt before the foundation of the Pyramids."
"Friend," said the Fox, smiling, and pointing with his claw to certain dabs of mud resting between the coarse excrescences of the speaker's hide, "there will need no herald to prove your gentility, for you carry the marks of your origin on your very skin."
MORAL. No disgrace can arise from a humble origin but the folly of denying it. [more info]
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