Lafontaine Tortue Canards

tale:lafontaine_tortue_canards

(La Tortue et les Deux Canards) A tortoise, weary of her home, has two ducks carry her aloft on a stick gripped in her mouth, on the condition she keep silent. As folk below marvel at the flying tortoise calling her a queen, she cannot resist answering — opens her mouth, and falls. Moral: vanity and a loose tongue bring the high low. — Jean de La Fontaine