The Buffoon and the Countryman

At a country fair there was a Buffoon who made all the people laugh by

imitating the cries of various animals. He finished off by squeaking so

like a pig that the spectators thought that he had a porker concealed

about him. But a Countryman who stood by said: “Call that a pig’s

squeak! Nothing like it. You give me till tomorrow and I will show you

what it’s like.” The audience laughed, but next day, sure enough, the

Countryman appeared on the stage, and putting his head down squealed so

hideously that the spectators hissed and threw stones at him to make

him stop. “You fools!” he cried, “see what you have been hissing,” and

held up a little pig whose ear he had been pinching to make him utter

the squeals.

Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.

The Fables of Aesop Selected, Told Anew, and Their History Traced · 第 87 / 89 题