This selection of fables may be suitably concluded by two which, though not original, we have not met with in print. The first is entitled The Nightingale, the Cuckoo and the Ass:[71]
'The nightingale and the cuckoo disputed as to which of them was the best singer, and they chose the ass to be the judge. First, the nightingale poured forth one of his most entrancing lays, followed by the cuckoo, with his two mellow notes. Being requested to deliver judgment, said the ass, "Without doubt the trill of the nightingale is worth listening to; but for a good plain song give me that of the cuckoo!"'
The moral here is obvious. Persons with a want of taste, or with a depraved taste, see no difference between things excellent and mean. Nay, they will often be found to prefer the mean, as being more in harmony with their own predilections.
The next is the shortest fable on record; its humour is as conspicuous as its brevity, and it hails from the County Palatine of Lancashire. It is named The Flea and the Elephant:
'Passing into the ark together, said the flea to its big brother: "Now, then, mister! no thrutching!"
'Moral: Insignificance has often its full share of self-importance.'
FOOTNOTES:
[66] 'The Tatler,' No. 115, vol iii., p. 7.
[68] Mr. Joseph Jacobs, in his erudite 'History of the Æsopian Fable,' shows that this was a mistake on the part of Maria de France, and that the author of the work from which her translation was made was not the King, but 'Alfred the Englishman,' who flourished about A.D. 1170.