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.”
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