The Ape and his Two Children

7.25. De simia et de gemino fetu
Caxton: Of the ape and of his two children
He that somtyme men dispreysen / may wel helpe somme other / as hit appereth by this Fable of an Ape / whiche had two children / of the whiche he hated the one / & loued the other / whiche he toke in his armes / and with hym fled before the dogges / And whanne the other sawe / that his moder lefte hym behynde / he ranne and lepte on her back / And by cause that the lytyl ape whiche the she ape held in her armes empeched her to flee / she lete hit falle to the erthe / And the other whiche the moder hated held fast and was saued / the whiche from thens fothon kyssed and embraced his moder / And she thenne beganne to loue hym /
wherfore many tymes it happeth / that that thynge whiche is dispreysed / is better than that thynge whiche is loued and preysed / For somtyme the children whiche ben preysed and loued / done lasse good than they whiche ben dispreysed and hated
[more info]

The Ape and her Two Young Ones

186. THE APE AND HER TWO YOUNG ONES. An ape, having two young ones, was doatingly fond of one, but disregarded and slighted the other. One day she chanced to be surprised by the hunters, and had much ado to get off; however, she did not forget her favourite young one, which she took up in her arms, that it might be the more secure: the other, which she neglected, by natural instinct leaped upon her back, and so away they scampered together. But it unluckily fell out, that the dam in her precipitate flight, blinded with haste, dashed her favourite's head against a stone, and killed it. The hated one, clinging close to her rough back, escaped all the danger of the pursuit. [more info]

The Ape and her Young Ones

06. THE APE AND HER YOUNG ONES. These was a foolish old widowed She-Ape, who had two young Monkeys of twins. She doted upon one of them, whom she countenanced in breaking and pilfering what he pleased; while she only noticed the other to punish him bitterly if he should aggrieve or thwart his brother, but on the whole left him to his own devices.
In the end the spoiled favourite broke out of bounds, and committed a theft away from his mother's cage, and was snapped at by a big Watch-Dog, whose kennel was in a neighbouring Court; while his neglected brother grew up a harmless, active, and amusing Monkey, much respected by all who knew him.
MORAL. A plant may thrive better by the road-side than in a hot-house where a Fool is the Gardener. [more info]

The Ape and Her Young Ones

06. THE APE AND HER YOUNG ONES. These was a foolish old widowed She-Ape, who had two young Monkeys of twins. She doted upon one of them, whom she countenanced in breaking and pilfering what he pleased; while she only noticed the other to punish him bitterly if he should aggrieve or thwart his brother, but on the whole left him to his own devices.
In the end the spoiled favourite broke out of bounds, and committed a theft away from his mother's cage, and was snapped at by a big Watch-Dog, whose kennel was in a neighbouring Court; while his neglected brother grew up a harmless, active, and amusing Monkey, much respected by all who knew him.
MORAL. A plant may thrive better by the road-side than in a hot-house where a Fool is the Gardener. [more info]

The Monkeys and their Mother

08. THE MONKEYS AND THEIR MOTHER. There was a Monkey that had Twins: She Doted upon One of them, and did not much care of the T'other. She took a sudden Fright once, and in a Hurry whips up her Darling under her Arm, and carries the Other a Pick-a-Pack upon her Shoulders. In this Haste and Maze, Down she comes, and beats out her Favourites Brains against a Stone; but That which she had at her Back came off Safe and Sound.
Fondlings are Commonly Unfortunate. [more info]