An Ape meeting with a Fox, humbly requested he would be so good as to
give him some of the superfluous hair from his bushy tail, to make
into a covering for his bare posteriors, which were exposed to all the
inclemency of the weather; and he endeavoured to further his suit by
observing to Reynard, that he had far more than he had any occasion
for, and a great part even dragged along in the dirt. The Fox answered,
that as to his having too much, it was more than he knew; but be it as
it would, he had rather sweep the ground with his tail as long as he
lived, than part with the least bit of it for a covering to the filthy
posteriors of an Ape.