After Zeus, Prometheus, and Athena had each made something (Zeus a bull, Prometheus a man, and the goddess a house), took Momus for judge. Momus, jealous of their works, began by saying that Zeus had blundered in not putting the bull's eyes on its horns, so that it could see where it struck; and Prometheus too, in not hanging the man's heart on the outside, so that wickedness should not stay hidden and everyone might show what he had in mind. As for Athena, he said she should have put her house on wheels, so that, if a bad neighbour settled nearby, one could move away easily. Zeus, indignant at his jealousy, drove him out of Olympus.
Nothing is so perfect as to give no hold to criticism.Moral
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