A monkey and a fox were travelling together. The monkey was carrying a
rucksack containing some crockery and cutlery, and flints to make a
fire, and after some time, he was getting rather weary carrying this
weight. “You know,” he said to the fox, “I shouldn’t really be the one
carrying this rucksack, you know.”
“Why would that be, pray tell, my good friend,” asked the fox.
“I am a very noble creature,” replied the monkey, “far away in the east,
they tell stories of how we monkeys are descended from the Gods!”
“That may well be so,” said the fox, “but look at my fur and yours, look
at the beautiful colour and the fullness of my tail, compared with that
scrawny thing you’ve got dangling behind you, any impartial observer
would judge me to be the more noble creature.”
“Ha!” cried the monkey, “Appearances! Everybody knows appearances
deceive. Real nobility is inside one’s character, one’s bearing and
one’s mind.”
The fox laughed. “Sure,” he said, “that’s why you chose to carry the
rucksack when we started out this morning. You knew from my noble
bearing that I was far too good to carry the rucksack around on my
back!”
Just then they came to a great cemetery, where there were a great number
of stone monuments marking the graves. The monkey stopped and looked
around him, and then gave a great sigh. The fox too stopped, and sat
down, waiting for monkey to speak again.
“All these monuments you see here,” monkey said at last, spreading his
arms about, “were erected in the distant past to some of my ancestors,
who were some of the most eminent men in their day, so that their
memories be cherished by generations to come!”
Fox was greatly amused by this statement. “Well sir,” he said, “you have
me there. You’ve been very clever in choosing these ancient corpses as
your witnesses, because very conveniently for you, none of them is able
to stand up and either confirm or deny your claim to nobility!”
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