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.

　　狐貍與猴子同行，一路上都在爭吵誰的家世更高貴。他們各自堅持著夸耀自己，邊說邊來到一個路邊滿是墓地的地方。這時，猴子停下來，四處觀望，然后放聲大哭。“你為什么這樣嗎？”狐貍忙問道。猴子指著那些墓碑，說：“你在這里看到的所有墓碑都是我祖先的榮譽，他們當(dāng)時可都是杰出的人士！”狐貍沉默了一會兒，但是很快就反駁道：“哦！接著吹吧，先生，不會有人揭穿你的——我相信，他們之中沒有人能站起來反駁你。

　　謊言無法被揭穿時，吹牛者便會夸夸其談。