But the legend he carved under these cruder symbols was everywhere the same; and whether fables began with sop or began with Adam, whether they were German and medival as Reynard the Fox, or as French and Renaissance as La Fontaine, the upshot is everywhere essentially the same: that superiority is always insolent, because it is always accidental; that pride goes before a fall; and that there is such a thing as being too clever by half.
