A SAILOR, bound on a long voyage, took with him a Monkey to amuse him while on shipboard. As he sailed off the coast of Greece, a violent tempest arose in which the ship was wrecked and he, his Monkey, and all the crew were obliged to swim for their lives. A Dolphin saw the Monkey contending with the waves, and supposing him to be a man (whom he is always said to befriend), came and placed himself under him, to convey him on his back in safety to the shore. When the Dolphin arrived with his burden in sight of land not far from Athens, he asked the Monkey if he were an Athenian. The latter replied that he was, and that he was descended from one of the most noble families in that city. The Dolphin then inquired if he knew the Piræus (the famous harbor of Athens). Supposing that a man was meant, the Monkey answered that he knew him very well and that he was an intimate friend. The Dolphin, indignant at these falsehoods, dipped the Monkey under the water and drowned him.
長い航海に出る船乗りが、船の上での退屈しのぎにサルを一匹連れていった。ギリシャの沿岸を航海していたとき、激しい嵐が起こって船は難破し、船乗りもサルも乗組員もみな、泳いで命をつながなければならなくなった。一頭のイルカが、波と格闘しているサルを見て、人間だと思いこみ（イルカはいつも人間の味方をすると言われている）、そばに来てサルの下にもぐりこみ、背中に乗せて無事に岸まで運んでやろうとした。イルカがその荷を背負って、アテネからほど遠くない陸地の見えるところまで来たとき、サルに「あなたはアテネの人ですか」とたずねた。サルは「そうだ」と答え、しかもアテネでも指折りの名家の出だと言った。イルカは次に、ピレウス（アテネの有名な港）を知っているかとたずねた。サルはそれを人の名前だと思いこみ、「よく知っているとも、親しい友人だ」と答えた。イルカはこのうそに腹を立て、サルを水の中に沈めておぼれさせてしまった。