A fox and a monkey were on the road together, and fell into a dispute as to which of the two was the better born. They kept it up for some time, till they came to a place where the road passed through a cemetery¹ full of monuments, when the monkey stopped and looked about him and gave a great sigh. "Why do you sigh?" said the fox. The monkey pointed² to the tombs and replied, "All the monuments that you see here were put up in honour of my forefathers³, who in their day were eminent⁴ men." The fox was speechless for a moment, but quickly recovering he said, "Oh! don't stop at any lie, sir; you're quite safe: I'm sure none of your ancestors will rise up and expose you."

 

Boasters brag⁵ most when they cannot be detected.

 

狐狸与猴子同行，一路上都在争吵谁的家世更高贵。他们各自坚持着夸耀自己，边说边来到一个路边满是墓地的地方。这时，猴子停下来，四处观望，然后放声大哭。“你为什么这样吗？”狐狸忙问道。猴子指着那些墓碑，说：“你在这里看到的所有墓碑都是我祖先的荣誉，他们当时可都是杰出的人士！”狐狸沉默了一会儿，但是很快就反驳道：“哦！接着吹吧，先生，不会有人揭穿你的——我相信，他们之中没有人能站起来反驳你。

 

谎言无法被揭穿时，吹牛者便会夸夸其谈。

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