There is a fascinating scene from the Life of Aesop, as recounted in Julien Macho's late fifteenth-century Esope, in which King Xantus of Babylon requests that his servant Aesop go to the market and buy the best meat procurable for that evening's meal, which Xantus is hosting for a group of scholars visiting for a few days. Aesop returns soon thereafter with a basket of pork tongues. Upon seeing the tongues, the king insults Aesop, and he and the scholars angrily question the slave as to why he bought tongues when ordered to purchase the best meat. Justifying his choice of meats, Aesop replies:

The next day King Xantus again sends Aesop to the butcher, but this time, perhaps testing the servant, he requests that Aesop buy the worst (pire), most fetid (puante) meat. Again the slave returns with the tongues, and when Xantus and the scholars, indignant, demand to know why the fool has bought tongues again, Aesop explains: