Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Monkey and the Dolphin
THE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN.
A Sailor, bound on a long voyage, took with him a Monkey to amuse him while on shipboard. As he sailed off the coast of Greece, a violent tempest arose, in which the ship was wrecked, and he, his Monkey, and all the crew were obliged to swim for their lives. A Dolphin saw the Monkey contending with the waves, and supposing him to be a man (whom he is always said to befriend), came and placed himself under him, to convey him on his back in safety to the shore. When the Dolphin arrived with his burden in sight of land not far from Athens, he demanded of the Monkey if he were an Athenian, who replied that he was, and that he was descended from one of the most noble families in that city. He then inquired if he knew the Piræus (the famous harbour of Athens). The Monkey, supposing that a man was meant, answered, that he knew him very well, and that he was an intimate friend. The Dolphin, indignant at these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey under the water, and drowned him.