The Crab and its Mother

From The Fables of Aesop

"Why do you walk so one-sided, my child? It is far more becoming to go straight forward." said a crab to her son.

The young Crab replied: "Quite true, dear Mother; and if you will show me the straight way, I will promise to walk in it."

The Mother tried in vain, and submitted without remonstrance to the reproof of her child.

Example is more powerful than precept.

"You cannot make a crab walk straight"

The Peace by Aristophanes (c. 444-380 BC)

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