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Old Man and Meat Can

"The Old Man and the Meat Can" may be one of Fairbank's more outrageous "stretches" of an Aesopic fable. It is based on the fable of the old woman who finds an empty wine jug. Here the old man finds an empty Fairbank meat can on the roadside. Here is what the card then presents: "'Sweet creature,' said he, 'how precious must have been your contents when the mere sight of your outer covering awakens such delightful emotions in my breast,' (stomach!) Moral: He went and bought a full can at once."