Tag Archives: Dead men tell no tales

44.Dead men tell no tales

A fox and a monkey, as they journeyed together, disputed at great length about the nobility of their lineage. When they reached a certain place on the road, the monkey fixed his gaze on it and uttered a groan. The fox asked what was wrong with him. The monkey pointed to some tombs that stood there.

“Don’t you expect me to mourn,” he said, “when I behold the sepulchres of the slaves and freedmen of my ancestors?”

“Lie away to your heart’s content,” answered the fox. “They won’t any of them rise up to contradict you.”

Certain impostors never boast more loudly than when there is no one to expose them.