Aesop's Fables

#164 Jupiter and the Monkey

Jupiter issued a proclamation to all the beasts of the forest and promised a royal reward to the one whose offspring should be deemed the handsomest.

The Monkey came with the rest and presented, with all a mother's tenderness, a flat-nosed, hairless, ill-featured young Monkey as a candidate for the promised reward.

A general laugh saluted her on the presentation of her son.

She resolutely said, "I know not whether Jupiter will allot the prize to my son, but this I do know, that he is at least in the eyes of me, his mother, the dearest, handsomest, and most beautiful of all!"