Explore "The Fox and the Bust" by Jean de La Fontaine on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The great are like the maskers of the stage; / Their show deceives the simple of the age. / For all that they appear to be they pass, / With only those whose type's the ass. / The fox, more wary, looks beneath the skin, / And looks on every side, and, when he sees / That all their glory is a semblance thin, / He turns, and saves the hinges of his knees, / With such a speech as once, 'tis said, / He utter'd to a hero's head. / A bust, somewhat colossal in its size, / Attracted crowds of wondering eyes. / The fox admired the sculptor's pains: / 'Fine head,' said he, 'but void of brains! ' / The same remark to many a lord applies.[1]
[1]: Aesop: Phaedrus, I. 7 (The Fox and the Tragic Mask).