The Crab and Its Mother

by Aesop

A CRAB said to her son: "Why do you walk so one-sided, my child? It is far more becoming to go straight forward. " The young Crab replied: Quite true, dear Mother; and if you will show me the straight way, I will promise to walk in it. The Mother tried in vain, and submitted without remonstrance to the reproof of her child.

Moral:
Example is more powerful than precept.

Source:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.