Aesop's Fable
A RICH
NOBLEMAN once opened the
theaters without charge to the people, and gave a
public notice that he would handsomely
reward any person who invented a new
amusement for the occasion. Various public
performers contended for the prize. Among them came a
Buffoon well known among the populace for his
jokes, and said that he had a kind of entertainment which had never been brought out on any stage before. This
report being spread about made a great stir, and the theater was crowded in every part. The Buffoon appeared alone upon the platform, without any
apparatus or
confederates, and the very sense of expectation caused an intense silence. He suddenly bent his head towards his
bosom and imitated the
squeaking of a little
pig so admirably with his voice that the audience declared he had a
porker under his
cloak, and demanded that it should be shaken out. When that was done and nothing was found, they cheered the actor, and loaded him with the loudest applause. A
Countryman in the crowd, observing all that has passed, said, "So help me,
Hercules, he shall not beat me at that
trick!" and at once
proclaimed that he would do the same thing on the next day, though in a much more natural way.
On the morrow a still larger crowd assembled in the theater, but now
partiality for their favorite actor very generally
prevailed, and the audience came rather to
ridicule the Countryman than to see the
spectacle. Both of the performers appeared on the stage. The Buffoon
grunted and squeaked away first, and obtained, as on the preceding day, the applause and cheers of the spectators. Next the Countryman
commenced, and pretending that he concealed a little pig beneath his clothes (which in truth he did, but not suspected by the audience ) contrived to take hold of and to pull his ear causing the pig to squeak. The Crowd, however, cried out with one consent that the Buffoon had given a far more exact imitation, and
clamored for the Countryman to be kicked out of the theater. On this the rustic produced the little pig from his cloak and showed by the most positive
proof the greatness of their mistake. "Look here," he said, "this shows what sort of
judges you are."