A debtor tries to sell a pig and greatly extols its virtues.
Chambry (The Athenian Debtor)
Note: The Chambry collection is published in Greek. AI was used to translate the Greek to this text:
In Athens, there was a man in debt who was being pressed by his lender to repay what he owed. At first, he begged for a delay, claiming he was in want. But when he could not persuade the lender, he brought forward the only pig he owned and, in the lender’s presence, put it up for sale. When a prospective buyer came and asked whether the pig bred piglets, the debtor declared that she not only gave birth, but did so in a marvelous way: during the Mysteries she bore female piglets, and during the Panathenaea she bore male piglets. As the buyer was astonished at such a claim, the lender said, “Don’t be surprised. This pig will also give you kids (baby goats) at the Dionysia!”
Moral
Many people, for their own gain, do not hesitate to tell even the most impossible lies.
How do you think an AI might simplify this fable? Here is one answer, and the illustration above was made from this simplification:
An indebted Athenian, desperate to pay his creditor, tried to sell his only pig. To make the sale, he lied extravagantly, claiming the pig gave birth to male or female piglets depending on the festival—and even to goats! The creditor sarcastically added to the deception to expose the absurdity.
Moral
People often shamelessly invent outrageous lies to serve their own profit.
Perry. #5