The Snail and the Monkey. A snail found a brightly shining mirror and fell in love with it; she immediately climbed up on its surface and began to lick it. She did not appear to do the mirror any good, except to cover up its splendor with slime and filth. A monkey then found the filthy mirror and said, "Those who let others walk all over them like this deservedly suffer the consequences."
Coclea et Simia. Coclea repperit speculum, quod, dum nimium fulgere vidisset, adamavit et, statim ascendens super eius orbem, coepit eum delingere. Nil vero ei visa est contulisse, nisi ut splendorem salivis vel sordibus pollueret. Simia invenit id taliter inquinatum et ait, "Qui talibus se calcari permittunt, talia sustinere merentur."
Notes. This is Ademar 8, which is Perry 559 in Perry's classification scheme. This is a wonderful little fable, I think - and quite rare. As far as I know Ademar's version is the only extant telling of the story.
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