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The Monkey and the Dolphin.

A Sailor, bound on a long voyage, took with him a Monkey to amuse himwhile on shipboard. As he sailed off the coast of Greece, a violenttempest arose, in which the ship was wrecked, and he, his Monkey and allthe crew were obliged to swim for their lives. A Dolphin saw the Monkeycontending with the waves, and supposing him to be a man (whom he isalways said to befriend), came and placed himself under him, to conveyhim on his back in safety to the shore. When the Dolphin arrived withhis burden in sight of land not far from Athens, he demanded of theMonkey if he were an Athenian, who answered that he was, and that he wasdescended from one of the noblest families in that city.

The Dolphin then inquired if he knew the Piræus (the famous harbor ofAthens). The Monkey, supposing that a man was meant, and being obligedto support his previous lie, answered that he knew him very well, andthat he was an intimate friend, who would, no doubt, be very glad to seehim. The Dolphin, indignant at these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey underthe water, and drowned him.

He who once begins to tell falsehoods is obliged to tell others to makethem appear true, and, sooner or later, they will get him into trouble.

From Aesop's Fables