Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/Jupiter and the Monkey

by attr. Æsop

 

JUPITER AND THE MONKEY.

Jupiter issued a proclamation to all the beasts of the forest, and promised a royal reward to the one whose offspring should be deemed the handsomest The Monkey came with the rest, and presented, with all a mother's tenderness, a flat-nosed, hairless, ill-featured young Monkey as a candidate for the promised reward. A general laugh saluted her on the presentation of her son. She resolutely said, "I know not whether Jupiter will allot the prize to my son; but this I do know, that he is, at least in the eyes of me, his mother, the dearest, handsomest, and most beautiful of all."

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