jupiter issued a proclamation to all the beasts of the forest and promised a royal reward to the one whose offspring should be deemed the handsomest. the monkey came with the rest and presented, with all a mother’s tenderness, a flat-nosed, hairless, ill-featured young monkey as a candidate for the promised reward. a general laugh saluted her on the presentation of her son. she resolutely said, “i know not whether jupiter will allot the prize to my son, but this i do know, that he is at least in the eyes of me his mother, the dearest, handsomest, and most beautiful of all.”