Or the moral, as it runs in the
french:
Mon bon Monsieur,
Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute :
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute.
My clumsy
translation: all
flatterers live off of those who pay them heed.
In the version i learned it was
cheese, not
meat.