214. Mus et Montes. Rumor erat parturire montes. Homines undique accurrunt et circumstant, monstri quidpiam non sine pavore exspectantes. Montes tandem parturiunt; exit ridiculus mus. Tum omnes risu emoriebantur. Reprehendit haec fabula iactantiam illorum qui cum magna profitentur, vix parva faciunt. Vetat etiam inanes timores; plerumque etenim periculi metus est ipso periculo gravior et ridiculum est quod tantum formidamus.
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SLIDESHOW of all the Heighway images. Notice that in the illustration there is a nice modern touch: people have money in hand to pay for the latest newspaper!
M0214 = Perry520. Source: Barlow’s Aesop 73. This is Perry 520. For other ominous births, see the story of the beetle and the thief, #689, or the story of the lambs with human heads, #888, or the man who laid an egg, #944.
